Youth Ministry Blog – ThereforeGo Ministries

Intergenerational Ingenuity

MacKenzie Knoll — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 13:42:25 +0000

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By Will Southard, a pastor in Lynden, Washington

Even before COVID, Gen Z was the loneliest generation on record. But now, in the aftermath of the pandemic, the need for connection and belonging is greater than ever. This is especially true for the emerging adults in our churches. We have a tremendous opportunity before us, to speak to that need. In Christ, we belong; we are fully known and fully loved. And we experience that belonging that we have in him as we gather with his people.

One of the ways that my church, Third CRC Lynden, has been seeking to further embrace our emerging adults is through a renewed focus on intergenerational gatherings. We’ve found that, especially after COVID, that’s what our church craves. We’re hungering to be in community together, so we’ve made space for that to happen through regular events, called “Family Fun Nights,” that the entire church is invited to. We’ve had pumpkin carving contests, trivia nights, and talent shows. At each of these events, we’ve experienced the beauty of fellowship.

Our emerging adults in particular have expressed how these events have helped integrate them into the life of the church and helped them get to know members of their faith family better. That has encouraged us as we continue moving forward with our long-term goal: cultivating deeper, more intentional relationships between generations. We’re seeking to do that in two new ways this year – through Faith Forward, and through Generation Spark.

Faith Forward was an idea that our Family Ministry Team developed while participating in a mentorship network last year, led by ThereforeGo Ministries and Faith Formation Ministries. We surveyed our church to see what some of our common interests are and created small groups to help gather them around those interests. We started with four – reading, cooking and baking, worship, and games – and have invited anyone who is interested, regardless of their age, to come and participate. Our hope is that, as we gather in these smaller groups, relationships will continue to develop and deepen in an organic way.

Faith Forward is helping us build a bridge to Generation Spark which is a collaboration between the CRC and RCA that is focused on cultivating intergenerational mentoring in churches. When we begin Generation Spark later this year, our emerging adults will have the opportunity to meet regularly with members of our faith family they’ve already gotten to know through Faith Forward or other intergenerational gatherings. They’ll spend time working on spiritual formation and continue to share and experience life together.

Ultimately these are the kinds of relationships that we want to see formed in our church. We want our emerging adults to experience what it’s like to be named and known, loved, and embraced. We want them to experience what it’s like to belong, as members of our faith family, learning and growing together. In many ways, we’re already doing that. We want to recognize that and encourage people to lean into what they’re already doing and invest in the next generation.

Stepping into intergenerational ministry can be uncomfortable – even scary. But, as my church has experienced, the best way to do it is by simply trying something. Create an opportunity for all ages to gather around something they enjoy. It will look different based on your context, and that’s the point! The more you know your people, the more you’ll know what will bring them together. Find that thing, and use it as your starting point. The desire for belonging is there. So try something together and, as you do that, you’ll begin building a foundation for lasting, intergenerational relationships to form.

Bio

Will is the Pastor of Family and Youth at Third Christian Reformed Church in Lynden, WA. He first got connected with ThereforeGo Ministries through their mentorship network, which he and a team from Third participated in last year and would highly recommend (especially if you can get Rick Zomer to be your coach).

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Dynamic Denver Discipleship

MacKenzie Knoll — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 14:26:21 +0000

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Interview with Myriam, an emerging adult in Denver, Colorado

Nestled in a tree-lined neighborhood in Denver lies First CRC of Denver. First CRC is one of many churches in North America that is pioneering new programs to involve emerging adults in their congregation. What is First’s solution? A program called “Enfold” that repurposes their unused parsonage into a discipleship house for the next generation of congregants and leaders.

According to First CRC’s website, “The Enfold program is a year-long residency program for recent college graduates and emerging adults who seek to serve God in their careers and to find their place in his family, the church.”

Each year, three to five residents are selected to live together rent-free in church-provided housing. Enfold’s vision and mission for its residents is threefold: that they “…engage the community as Christ’s representatives… discover their place in God’s family through participation in the church… and be discipled by the pastors through vocational mentoring.”

Myriam, a nurse and recent graduate of Dordt University, was eager to talk about her journey to Enfold and Colorado.

“During the spring of my senior year, I went on a service trip to Colorado. I mentioned to the person we were volunteering with that I was looking at jobs in the Denver area, and she told me about the Enfold program that First CRC was starting,” she said. “I wanted to work in the US for a year or so while I worked on transferring my nursing license home to Canada.”

“When I first heard about the opportunity, I thought it would be a great way to make connections in Denver. It was nice not to have to choose a church to attend. I was able to get involved with the church faster than I would have otherwise.”

As she settled into her new life, Myriam has had to figure out what it means to be an adult seeking out a relationship with the Lord separately from required chapel or religion classes at school.

“It was suddenly on me to make sure I was growing my faith and staying close to God,” she said. “I have been meeting with someone from the church who is also a nurse. She has helped me understand how I can express my faith at work.”

As opportunities similar to Enfold begin to emerge, other churches may take inspiration from programs that intentionally build relationships and community around their emerging adults.

One thing that Myriam thinks churches could do better to engage her generation is inviting them into leadership.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been asked to lead a program. I know there is a need, and most young adults would be more than willing to help, but they aren’t inclined to do so if they aren’t asked.”

Myriam’s thoughts and experiences are a compelling call to action for present church leaders. There is a younger generation standing by, ready to lead, if only someone would ask.

Bio

Myriam is an ICU nurse originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, reading, skiing, and spending time with friends.

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Summer SERVE

Ron deVries — Wed, 22 Jun 2022 14:56:00 +0000

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For many of us, the summer season brings the smell of hotdogs cooking, s’mores burning and the enjoyment of sipping a cold beverage on the deck. (And those of us in the north, where winter climates often prevent us from enjoying the outdoors in shorts and t-shirts, are particularly excited for summer.)

Summer also brings along excitement for teens and leaders to experience doing something we call missions. For decades, SERVE has been the name associated with just this type of experience. SERVE, (a ministry of ThereforeGo Ministries) has worked with many hosting, local churches and hundreds of sending churches over the years. Thousands of youth (aged 14-18) have been impacted by the transforming work of Jesus Christ through these events. What’s more, many of these same teens later followed the Spirit’s leading and entered ministry later in life—God is good, all the time!

And the work that He has begun in our communities is often realized through these temporary communities of grace, mercy and hope. Over the years and decades, students and leaders alike have experienced the transformative power of God when they serve. Those days are often filled with moments of:

Working with people who have been marginalized
Hearing stories of God’s redeeming work in communities
Worshiping together and singing with the angelic voices that Heaven produces

All done on SERVE. For the Kingdom.

If you would like to hear more about these opportunities, please contact me at Ron@thereforego.com

If you would like to hear stories about what God is doing in this work, ask one of your students who has gone or visit thereforego.com/stories.

If you would like to help, please pray:

for the hundreds of students who are going this year.
for the leaders who accompany them.
for the hosting communities who, coming out of COVID, are hosting for the first time in 3 years.
that our Lord’s transforming Glory is experienced first hand.

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Trusting Wise People

ThereforeGo Ministries — Fri, 20 May 2022 17:00:00 +0000

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“Plans fail for the lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” Proverbs 15:22 NIV

Back in my youth I had a lot of plans, visions, and ideas, but I became reluctant to share them due to people laughing, teasing, or making fun of me. Later in life it became evident that I was a visionary or good at casting vision. It was a gift and part of my make up, but I still held back due to the lack of confidence and influence.

Years later my brother and I started a business, and I gave a presentation to a flourishing company. After that meeting the business owner took me aside and said to me, “you are one amazing presenter.” He told me he loved the idea I presented and wanted to be a part of our organization. Mostly, he wanted to counsel me to give me advise and constructive criticism about our plan. This excited me and built my confidence immensely. Twenty years later that man still influences me today.

Plans and ideas are good but if we don’t share them to get someone else’s perspective and wisdom we will most likely set ourselves up for failure. I think it is imperative to follow the wise counsel of the writer in Proverbs 15:22. Seek good, wise, and trustworthy advisers so that your plans succeed. Wisdom is found in other people’s life experiences.

“Igniting” your day,

JR Pittman
Pastor | Evangelist

JR Pittman is a Motivational Speaker, the Lead Pastor of Ignite Fellowship Church, and the President and On-Air Host of Ignite Radio. Learn more at www.ignitegr.org

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My Plans vs God’s Plan

ThereforeGo Ministries — Fri, 13 May 2022 17:00:00 +0000

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“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.” Proverbs 16:3 NIV

One of the most exciting things to do in life is make plans for your life. Dreaming about your future can be fun but to write it down could be scary to some. Yet, in the back of our mind we always wonder, “Is this God’s will for my life?”

I love the verse where it states that we need to commit our plans to the Lord. You may be asking yourself, “How do I commit my plans to the Lord?” Simple! You pray. You can either do this by yourself or with your parents, uncle, aunt, teacher, or youth pastor (include someone you trust that has your best interest). Here’s a sample prayer:

Dear Lord, today I want to commit this plan to you. I trust you placed this on my heart, and I need your confirmation so I may have your peace. I truly desire to be in your will to serve you. Keep me humble and open hearted for whatever you show me. In Jesus name, Amen.

Once you commit your plans to God your humanity will kick in. It can be very difficult waiting on the Lord to give you an answer. Just ask God to give you patience as you wait on Him. I guarantee it will be worth the wait.

“Igniting” your day,

JR Pittman
Pastor | Evangelist

JR Pittman is a Motivational Speaker, the Lead Pastor of Ignite Fellowship Church in Grand Rapids, MI, and the President and On-Air Host of Ignite Radio. Learn more at www.ignitegr.org

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Crock pot or microwave?

Rick Zomer — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 12:00:00 +0000

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Have you ever prepared a roast early morning and then let it cook in a crock pot throughout the day? Have you ever placed the ingredients in a bread maker and set it to be ready at dinner time? If so, you know what it is like to have your space fill up with the smell of food cooking for hours and the anticipation that it creates for the food you’ll enjoy later in the day. In fact, it is the pace of the cooking that adds to your enjoyment of your meal. On the other end of the spectrum, a hot pocket that is heated in the microwave for a couple of minutes might provide a hungry person food. However, it is doubtful that its’ flavor or your anticipation would match the quality that comes from a slow cooked meal.

So, what does crockpot cooking have to do with mentoring? I believe many of us choose to employ a microwave approach to how we structure our expectations for building intergenerational connections: we are willing to invest a minimal amount of time, but for some reason are surprised if the relationship that develops isn’t what we hoped it would be.

We would do well to be reminded that an impactful relationship takes time. In fact, time is the very thing that helps build connection, depth, and meaning in mentoring. In the same way crockpots create enjoyable meals, a slow, deliberate, and patient approach to forming relationships continues to be the best way to building meaningful intergenerational connections.

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Posture

Rick Zomer — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 12:00:00 +0000

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Many of us approach mentoring with the idea that it is a process that is based within a specific context: two people sitting across a table from one another engaged in a guided conversation. While that may be true in some instances the posture of mentoring doesn’t have to be limited to a face to face meeting. In fact, initially it might be better if it doesn’t.

Sitting directly across from someone can be an intimidating posture for individuals as they begin to get to know one another in a mentoring relationship. While a table may provide a physical buffer there may still be a sense of vulnerability that comes from being in a person’s direct site of vision for an extended period of time. To help ease that anxiety, it might be helpful to consider the physical posture we employ as we seek to build intergenerational connections.

Rather than starting face to face, consider changing your posture so you are shoulder to shoulder during your initial interactions. Look to do things together that might create space for conversation without having to stay in a fixed location like taking a walk, or meeting outdoors in a park or location with a shared view. This shift in posture may create a more casual atmosphere that sets a foundation for the deeper conversations that are often part of a long-term mentoring connection.

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Perspective

Rick Zomer — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 17:30:00 +0000

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Over the past few months, I’ve had the privilege of working with several churches that are interested in developing intergenerational mentoring connections in their congregation. While each situation is unique, there are some common themes that emerge in these conversations. Over my next two posts, I’ll deal with two of them specifically: the first will focus on a perspective that might be helpful at the beginning stages of a mentoring relationship, and the last will deal with the idea of posture.

So, what does perspective have to do with mentoring? For many of us, we may be hesitant to begin meeting with a student or emerging adult unless we have a clear idea of what it looks like to be a “successful” mentor. Or we may begin a mentoring connection with someone only to lose momentum if we find our initial conversations to be challenging or even awkward. In doing so, we are experiencing the impact our personal perspective can have on our ability to connect with a younger person. From an “older” person’s point of view, a challenging or awkward beginning to intergenerational connection might be viewed as evidence that they aren’t equipped to be the perfect mentor to an emerging adult.

The good news however, is that young people aren’t looking for their mentors to be perfect, they are merely looking for them to be present in their lives. An older person who is able to shift their perspective to reflect this reality will find that students and emerging adults are simply seeking authentic relationship. All they are looking for is an older person who is committed to journey with them as they move into their next stage of life.

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Ready. Set. Wait???

Rick Zomer — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

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I don’t like airline travel. It isn’t because I’m afraid of flying, it’s because I’m annoyed by waiting. To me nothing is more frustrating than packing a bag, arriving at the airport at the recommended time, checking in and going through security, only to arrive at my gate to discover that the plane isn’t there. There’s nothing I can do but wait.

That description of airline travel is similar to the experience of many emerging adults and their attempt to stay connected to the church. Many of them have participated in everything the church offers: Sunday school, mission trips, youth group and profession of faith. They have “completed” everything the church has asked of them and many of them are looking forward to the next step in their faith journey. These emerging adults are eager to lead, to serve and to contribute to their church community in a meaningful way.

The problem is when they’re ready, the church often tells them to wait. They might be told to wait until they’re older, married, have kids or are “more settled” in their careers before assuming a position of influence or leadership in the church. These messages can be either directly or indirectly communicated to them but they are certainly received. Some of us “older” members of the congregation might feel that this is the way church is supposed to work, after all when we were that age we may have experienced the same thing. That being said, if we are also part of the church that looks around and asks where all the emerging adults have gone we should consider this question: maybe they got tired of waiting.

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Is There More To Supporting Student Mission Trips Than Writing A Check?

Rick Zomer — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 18:45:00 +0000

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My wife and I have been part of a small group for the last 20 years. We started out as five couples but the size of the group has grown to 22 as kids have entered our lives. As a result, I’ve been asked by several of them for support as they’ve gone on mission trips.

On some level, it’s an easy task: write a check and a young person has an experience that will impact their life. However, I began to ask what role I should play beyond simply providing funds. So, when the next kid from our group asked for support for her high school trip I agreed, but only if she agreed to meet with me when she got back. She agreed, and we met for coffee when she returned.

When we met I asked her two questions: what was her favorite part of the trip and what was she surprised by? Then I sat and listened. When she was done speaking, I told her what I had heard: that she loved the Christian community that developed on her trip and she loved working with kids. I confessed that I didn’t know what that might mean for her as she discerns what God is calling her to, but I hoped she’d consider her responses in that process.

I’m a big believer in mission trips and I do think they have the potential to change a young person’s life. That being said, if an adult’s involvement ends with writing a check, it seems to me the potential power of that experience in a young person’s life might be lost. After all, if I’m a young person and I’m told that a mission trip is important, wouldn’t it be important enough for an adult to ask me about it when it’s over?

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12 Ways Youth Can Serve at Home

ThereforeGo Ministries — Thu, 13 May 2021 20:04:56 +0000

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In Galatians 5:13-14 we read “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

To love and serve our neighbors, this command is as crucial today as it has ever been. However, with the ongoing struggles of a global pandemic, our traditional service trips and many of our service projects have been put on hold.

Below, we are sharing some of our favorite ways to continue having a mission trip experience, while staying at home or in your community. These are great mission opportunities for individuals or your next youth group community service project.

Serve in Your Church

SERVE@Home in your local Church

1. Call or visit congregation members

Talk to your pastors or elders and get a list of congregation members who could use a little company. This is also a great way to encourage your students to get to know the older members of your congregation.

2. Write cards/notes to older individuals

Everyone likes to get mail! Write to the older members of your congregation or find a nursing home that you can bless with some handwritten notes!

3. Run a class or book club

Find something you or your students are interested in and start a small group about it! Maybe there is a book you are all interested in or a topic that you can focus a scripture study around.

4. Help with cleaning or gardening

Students at Ripon SERVE@Home working in a Community Garden

Churches are big spaces and it’s not uncommon to have a few spaces that don’t get cleaned very often. Cleaning and gardening are easy school student service project ideas.

Serve in Your Community

Students Serving at Edmonton Alberta BBQ

5. Help your neighbors with home projects

Take this opportunity to partner with your community and get to know your neighbors a little better, and offer to lend a hand while you’re at it.

6. Clean out your closet

There are a lot of organizations that would love donations of gently used goods.

7. Reconnect with friends near and far

Phone calls, letters, or even a simple text message can brighten up a day. Take this opportunity to reach out and reconnect. Maybe offer a listening ear to someone who you know is struggling.

8. Share something you love

Do you love hiking, biking, gardening, painting, photography, board games, or really any other hobby? Start a group to participate in these things together! You could even look around your congregation or community for people in mentorship networks who may do these things professionally. Ask if they would willing teach a class about the topic and be part of a social service program.

Serve in Your Home

SERVE@Home doing extra work around the house

9. Help with extra chores

Take the extra step to do a chore that isn’t usually your responsibility. This is a simple way that you can serve at home.

10. Help a sibling with their homework or spend some time doing something they like doing

A great way for students to see service on many levels encourages them to look for ways to serve their parents and siblings differently.

11. Collect your family stories

Ask your parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles about the history of your family and document the stories in a fun way. This is a great way to learn about your personal history and connect with your family in a new way.

12. Pray

SERVE@Home in prayer with a group

We know that prayer is powerful and that praying for our churches, communities, and families can be an act of service.

Acts of Service are All Around Us

Service opportunities are all around us, we just need to be creative when looking for new ideas.

Interested in a more intentional service event for your church this summer? Check out the ThereforeGo Ministries SERVE@Home kits. Filled with service project ideas, t-shirts, curriculum, and pre-recorded encouraging messages, it’s everything you need to bring a service trip to your backyard. Each kit provides enough supplies for 10 students and 2 adult leaders. Learn more at thereforego.com/servehome.

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Garden Dirt and Cheeto Dust

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 14:13:34 +0000

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by Adam VanderStelt, Youth Leader at Trinity Church in Grandville, MI

Written October 2020

“I’ve got to be honest. If I want to have fun, I’ll just call my friends and order my own pizza,” said Sam as he sawed away at an overgrown sumac tree, “But this is something I don’t do on my own.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean I don’t think my friends and I would just decide to do something like this.”

We were clearing 10 years of weeds and garbage out of our new friend Kathy’s garden. It used to be her mother’s, but Kathy inherited it when her mom died of cancer early in life, when Kathy was in her teens. It had fallen simultaneously into disrepair with Kathy.

“Are you telling me you guys figured out how to order pizza and have fun without me?” I ribbed Sam.

“Yeah, we did,” he shrugged nonchalantly, “But I really like doing this. This means something.”

Well there you have it, I thought. Youth ministry clearly has shifted from what it was when I was a kid—from isolated church basement ministry, to relational ministry, to here in this gross overgrown garden— to what I might label “disciple while serving” ministry.

“I’m kind of glad we’re not doing the group thing in the basement anymore. No offense, but it just seemed so forced sometimes, like we had to be friends,” chimed in Elise, a typically tough-to-crack teenager. “Plus, I’m just more interested in doing my faith and not talking about it all the time,” she added.

“Gotcha.” I chuckled, easing a familiar inner tension that arises every time I ask myself what is youth ministry. Most of these kids have heard Bible lessons and stories their whole lives. Most Bible study nights are full of yawns and eye rolls. And every fun game I tried from the book has never, in fact, been any fun.

Thinking abnormally fast on my feet, I formulated a better response.

“Why does what we’re doing right now seem more meaningful than just talking about our faith?” I asked.

It got quiet. Oh no, I thought. They’ve spotted me trying to casually sneak a meaningful question into their fun. As you were, weird, churchy Bible guy.

“This is like that whole ‘faith without works is dead’ thing, from the Bible,” said James, passing by me, dragging a rusty garden fence he’d unearthed. I was floored. This was the first non-snarky thing this kid has ever said to me.

Kathy came out of her house in tears, so I began walking over. Last month, she walked into her house that she shared with her sister to find she had died on the couch alone while Kathy was away. Unearthing the family garden was also revealing the deep family wounds she’d covered with loneliness, television and cheap gas station food.

Before I reached her, one of the shy homeschooled girls, Faith, put a hand on her shoulder, and listened, fully attentive, to Kathy’s heartbreak. And then she led Kathy in prayer. Kathy cried and hugged her, covering Faith in Cheeto dust from her days-old blouse. Faith was beaming.

“Well, this is different,” whispered my co-leader, as she stuffed another bag full of trash.

“Yes it is,” I nodded.

This is what I am sticking with for now in this weird time: disciple while serving. I can’t bring them in the building, and from what I’ve found out, they didn’t love being in there anyway. I’m scheduling service events around our community, sneaking in a meaningful question once in a while when they don’t suspect it and worrying a lot less about trying to make interesting the same stories and values they’ve heard countless times.

Here’s the weird thing. It actually works so much better for us. This challenging time is making resilient followers of Jesus who are eager to get in the garden dirt and the Cheeto dust and throw their hearts and hands into his Kingdom work.

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5 Most Impactful Youth Mission Trips

ThereforeGo Ministries — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 21:59:21 +0000

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Many youth pastors and leaders have had a number of mission trip experiences either as a student or as a leader, so who better to ask about which ones have been the most impactful?

In this blog post, you’ll find:

Local Mission Trips
International Mission Trips
Mission Work in a “Big City”
Youth Summer Camp Missions
Mission Trip to Alaska
Bonus: Words of Advice

1. Local Mission Trips

Local mission “trips” or service projects have recently increased in popularity due to travel restrictions and caution from COVID-19.

Many teens are eager to help where they can, and oftentimes they don’t have to go far. In fact, sometimes working with local communities can be the most impactful mission trip. Being able to see the impact the teens have made in a neighboring community on a day-to-day basis is unforgettable.

The coronavirus pandemic has also lead many churches to only consider domestic mission trips (service trips in their home country). In 2021, ThereforeGo Ministries is only offering domestic mission trips or at-home mission trip opportunities; even though normally, we provide mission trips for teens to destinations in both the USA and Canada.

Student Ministries Director Lucas Johnson from Pillar Church, finds his youth have been most impacted by this type of trip.

“I like to believe all the mission trips we do are impactful. However, two local trips stick out the most: a trip to Detroit, working with Youthworks and a Younglife trip to Timberwolf Lodge, babysitting for teen moms while they got training and time away. It was awesome to see the students making an impact in their own state and feeling led to serve.”

Find Mission Trip Locations for Youth Groups »
Get Help Planning Your Youth Group’s Mission Trip »

2. International Mission Trips

Sometimes it is all too easy to become comfortable in our daily lives, with everything at the tips of our fingers. Many other countries don’t have the same accessibility that we have. This makes international mission trips some of the most humbling experiences.

When it comes to an international trip, the possibilities are endless. So many countries can benefit from the spiritual guidance and efforts of members of the Christian community.

Student Ministries Pastor Chuck Zook from Summit Church, says his trips to build homes in Mexico are the ones that have left an everlasting impact.

Sometimes called “overseas mission trips”, the possibilities for these are endless.

“Some of the most impactful trips I have been a part of were with the group ‘Casas por Cristo.’ They are an organization based in Texas that builds homes for those who need them in several locations such as Juarez and Ciudad de Acuna, Mexico. I have been in both communities on a few different trips. Your group builds a home, from the foundation all the way up over four days.

“These trips were impactful for me (as a student and a leader) for a few reasons. First, Casas is efficient and their leaders lead by example – everyone is included in the building project. Second, during the week, you work directly alongside the family who is receiving the house. This last part is incredibly impactful. When you work alongside the family, you see how much this means to them, because they work their fingers to the bone. You also build a relationship with the person you are serving (despite language barriers). This often is overlooked on service/mission trips in my opinion. The emphasis is put on what ‘I’ learn, and what ‘our’ takeaway will be versus the people who need caring for. How can we pour ourselves out to fill up others and not worry about our ‘life change’ or what we are getting from the trip?

“Don’t get me wrong, the learning, perspective change and growth from these trips are important. I just think, if we aren’t careful, we put more emphasis on what’s in it for us then the people we’re serving.”

Find Mission Trip Locations for Youth Groups »
Get Help Planning Your Youth Group’s Mission Trip »

3. Mission Work in a “Big City”

City mission trips are popular for both domestic and international mission trips (or even just a service project within your local area).

Cities across the country are often laden with individuals and families who struggle to make ends meet – many who don’t even have a home. Taking part in a mission trip in a large city can be a real eye-opener and a great opportunity for spiritual growth.

There are tons of opportunities to be part of teen mission trips to cities, such as SERVE with ThereforeGo (formerly Youth Unlimited) or Revolution’s Big City.

Student Ministries Director, Aaron Damjanovich from Eagle Brook Church, says the youth from his church have been deeply impacted by the work they have done in cities over the last few years.

“Every summer for the past five years, we’ve taken around 200 high school students on a mission trip called, “Big City.” We work closely with Rich Gibbs from Cutting Edge Ministries to locate a city and work with the local churches to find how we can best serve them – whether that be VBS or work projects. Every day each group of about 20 students gets sent out to a different site to work, and in the evenings we gather as a large group for worship and a message. This past summer we served in St. Louis. Like every trip, students grow very close in relationships with each other and we see significant impact, spiritual growth and life change.”

Student Pastor, Ty Hogue from Overisel Reformed Church, said he is always driven back to ministry work in Chicago because the opportunities in a big city are endless.

“I started going to Chicago in the summer of 1999 and have gone all but two summers since. We have worked with day camps, community gardens, thrift stores, lunch and dinner ministries and food banks and have assisted in upholstery, yard work, basement clean-ups, roofing, plumbing, painting, carpeting and so much more throughout the neighborhood and at several of the ministry buildings. Most of the impact comes from the relationships within our group, with their church and in the community. There has also been the satisfaction of working hard and getting things accomplished, but there’s nothing like relationship building and seeing a more diverse and unique expression of God’s creativity amongst his creation.”

Find Mission Trip Locations for Youth Groups »
Get Help Planning Your Youth Group’s Mission Trip »

4. Youth Summer Camp Missions

Youth summer camp service projects can be in your own community, elsewhere in your home country, or international.

Every teen looks forward to the summertime and the freedom to break out of their normal routine. This makes summer the perfect time for them to experience the impact of a mission trip – or more specifically, a youth summer camp.

Youth summer mission camps tend to be short-term, one to two weeks long, and teens can make the most of their time by serving those in a new community in a variety of ways.

Paul Galbraith, Pastor of Missions & Student Ministry from Brandywine Church, says of the youth camp his team attends every year:

“We take our youth to Mountain T.O.P. every summer to their Youth Summer Mission Camps. Our kids connect with Christ through service, worship and time away from daily routine. It increases their awareness of needs around them and challenges them to sacrifice for others daily.”

5. Mission Trips To Alaska

The culture and landscape of Alaska will make you feel like you’re in another country.

Alaska is a place unto its own, and it is often overlooked. Life is different there – it’s slower, tougher and more unforgiving. For those who have reservations or concerns about international mission trips, Alaska can be a great alternative. The culture and landscape of Alaska will make you feel like you’re in another country, without needing a passport (for US citizens). Alaska is also a popular destination for neighboring Canada.

Youth Pastor Kurtis Ritsema from Graafschap CRC, believes visiting Alaska with his youth team has been the most impactful trip.

“Our trip to Alaska with Eaglecrest Alaska Missions to the community of Sutton has been the most impacting. The work primarily consisted of log splitting (wood as a heat source for winter), basic home repair and landscaping projects. The work was good, but what made this trip most impactful was the location, the weather, the time of year (land of the midnight sun) and the youth group time around an evening campfire each night.”

Words of Advice

It’s important to remember to keep your mission trip focused on relationships.

Many youth pastors and leaders believe there are two things that are key to having a successful and impactful youth mission trip:

A Relationship Focus
Preparation

Keep Your Trip Relationship Focused

Mission trips are only as valuable as the relationships that are formed and lives that are changed through discipleship. This may be either with the individuals in a community or members of a team.

Student Ministries Pastor Brad Bullock of Pathway Community Church, says:

“Our teams have strong bonds and are well equipped before the trip through mandatory team meetings and a two-night team retreat. And our partners are strategic so we can experience a win-win – ministry that advances the work of the local mission and also advances our students down the road to becoming disciples who make disciples.”

You Can Never Over-Prepare

7 Things to Do When Planning a Mission Trip for Teens

The destination of your trip is not nearly as important as the time put in prior to leaving. It is necessary to prepare your hearts, minds and even physically prepare. Whatever you will need on an upcoming mission trip, there is no way to over prepare.

Youth Pastor Fig VanderMolen of Messiah CRC, says:

“I think the best advice I could give any leader planning a trip is to not skimp on the prep. No matter where your group is going, no matter what the length, meeting ahead as a team helps with everything from attitude on the trip, knowledge of the work or service, understanding of the people you are going to be working with and so much more.

“We’ve used some material from the book Deep Justice Journeys by Kara Powell and some other team building or strategic planning type activities. I also ask all of our students and adults to attend all fundraisers, even if they have raised enough money for their trip on their own. It helps us get used to working with one another! I’m not sure that specific places matter as much. I think that with good prep and a good group, you can have success at any site.”

Are you planning a youth mission trip?

Get a FREE copy of the Complete Guide to Planning a Youth Mission Trip. This complete guide will help make you plan your youth mission trip from beginning to end!

Get the FREE eBook

Browse mission trips here. Here’s 5 examples of impactful mission trips:

Explore trip locations »

Two key pieces of advice:

They certainly can! Here’s just some of the ways mission trips within your own country can be impactful.

ThereforeGo (formerly “YouthUnlimited”) provides opportunities for youth group mission trips in the USA and Canada.

This means we provide both domestic and international youth mission trips (because of COVID-19, all 2021 trips require groups to stay in their own country – learn more).

Specific destinations (we call them “SERVE sites“) include everything from larger cities to smaller towns in rural areas. And in 2021, we even have a mission opportunity for serving your own local community (called SERVE@Home).

Explore trip locations »

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Anti-Racist Resources For Your Youth Group

Elizabeth Bosscher — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 18:25:25 +0000

The post Anti-Racist Resources For Your Youth Group appeared first on ThereforeGo Ministries.

As the events in the US over the past few weeks have brought to light, once again, the ways in which we are failing our black brothers and sisters we, the staff of ThereforeGo Ministries, are heartbroken. We do not want to turn away from this pain, but instead, we would like to do a better job of pointing you towards resources to use with your youth group or during your SERVE experiences.

The reality is that we are a staff of white individuals who are nowhere near experts on the topic of anti-racism. So, we will not be writing think pieces or attempting to develop resources of our own, but instead, we have compiled a list of organizations, curriculum, media, and other materials that may help you bring this conversation to the surface with your teenagers.

CRCNA Race Relations
- The CRCNA has and is continuing to develop resources about racism through their office of Race Relations. Not only do they provide education and practical ideas for churches in both the US and Canadian context but they also offer workshops on racism, leadership and race, and the history of whiteness.
- US Website: https://www.crcna.org/race/resources
- CAN Website: https://www.crcna.org/race/dismantling-racism-canada
Be The Bridge
- This Christian organization has been working to empower people and culture toward racial healing, equity and reconciliation for years. On their website, bethebridge.com, you will find countless resources including a section specifically designed for teenagers.
- Website: https://bethebridge.com/
CCDA Justice Initiatives
- Website: https://ccda.org/justice-initiatives/
Video Series: The Next Question
- https://www.tnqshow.com/
Austin Channing Brown
- Book: “I’m Still Here”
- Newsletter: Role Call
Jamar Tisby
- Book: “The Color Of Compromise; The Truth About The American Church’s Complicity in Racism”
- Book: “How to Fight Racism”
- Website: https://jemartisby.com/
The Witness
- Website: https://thewitnessbcc.com/
Resources listed by Robin DiAngelo: (Categories include: General, for White Parents, and Handouts, Education System)
- https://www.robindiangelo.com/resources/
Andre Henry
- Website: http://andrehenry.co/
- Newsletter: Hope & Hard Pills
Ally Henny
- www.allyhenny.com
The Witness
- Website: https://thewitnessbcc.com/
Emmanuel Acho
- Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man; on Facebook.
Harbor Kids: Resources for families to support conversations on race and equality
If you would like a more detailed list that was compiled by and for Social Workers and parents in the United States check out the link below.
- bit.ly/ANTIRACISMRESOURCES This list includes books, movies, podcasts, articles, social media accounts and other resources about Anti-Racism.

Additional Justice Resources

Curriculum: Seek Social Justice
- This is a free 6 lesson study on poverty and compassion
- https://compassclassroom.com/shop/product/seek-social-justice/
Curriculum: Letter to the Exiles
- Website: https://www.letterstotheexiles.com/

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5 Events to Raise More Money for Your Next Youth Mission Trip

Elizabeth Bosscher — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 18:00:11 +0000

The post 5 Events to Raise More Money for Your Next Youth Mission Trip appeared first on ThereforeGo Ministries.

Convincing people to give you money isn’t always easy – even if it’s for a life-changing youth mission trip. You need to get creative to inspire your youth and make them excited about raising money for the trip. We’ve created a practical list for youth workers and pastors to help make your next Christian youth mission trip a financial success.

1. Text-to-Tithe Campaign

A text-to-tithe campaign can be incredibly useful because people can give whenever or wherever they want. Your youth group is already well-versed in communicating via text message. You’ll need to do some upfront work to get the campaign setup, but after that, let your youth lead the charge demonstrating how the campaign works to the congregation.

Promote the text-to-tithe fundraiser in multiple channels, including social media and the church’s newsletter. Tap into your teens’ enthusiasm and have them make announcements at the end of sermons about why the fundraiser is essential.

2. Charity or Silent Auction

A charity auction or silent auction is a reliable fundraising method for a reason. Guests can bid on their favorite or most unusual items, and the highest bidder receives the item. While this event may require the most planning out of all the options on our list, it also had the potential to raise the most money.

Encourage your youth group to think of different services they can offer, such as yard work, painting, shopping, deliveries, babysitting, cleaning or snow removal. Or they can reach out to local businesses to donate items. If you have ample space, you can save a lot of money by hosting the auction at your church.

3. Crowdfunding Campaign

Tap into the growing trend of online fundraising, specifically crowdfunding, to raise money for your youth group. Use your congregation’s expansive social media network to help spread the word about the youth mission trip to existing and new supporters.

You’ll need to create a mobile-optimized fundraising web page and make room for great visuals like images and videos. Lean on your youth to utilize their strengths to tell the story and encourage them to share the campaign. The best part is crowdfunding can be used together with countless other fundraising events.

4. Parents Party

A parents party is an excellent way to give the parents a night out and also raise money for your youth mission trip. You’ll need to put together a party planning committee and start selling tickets. In exchange for tickets sold, the teens in your youth group can be made available to babysit that evening free of charge.

Time the event around a holiday for maximum promotion. Parents would love a night out during the busy Christmas season or even Valentine’s Day.

5. Teach a New Skill

Mine your congregation for people with skills others have always wanted to learn. Maybe you have talented sewers, website developers, crafters, photographers or carpenters willing to donate their time. You’ll need to sell tickets and provide the materials and space required for the lessons. In no time, you’ll have funds for your youth mission trip and a congregation armed with a new skill like how to build a simple shelf or hem a pair of pants.

Youth group fundraising doesn’t have to be complicated or tedious. Use these ideas to get your youth group and congregation excited about raising money for your upcoming youth mission trip.

Are you planning a youth
mission trip for High school students?

Get a FREE copy of the Complete Guide to Planning a Youth Mission Trip. This complete guide will help make you plan your youth mission trip from beginning to end!
Get The Free eBook

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5 Reflection Questions to Ask After Your Mission Trip

Elizabeth Bosscher — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 21:51:06 +0000

The post 5 Reflection Questions to Ask After Your Mission Trip appeared first on ThereforeGo Ministries.

Coming home from a youth mission trip can be much like falling off a mountaintop and walking away very disoriented. You have experienced so much in such a short time that coming back to real-life can be a letdown.

One way to prevent disorientation is to spend some time in reflection and share your experience with others. Below are a few questions to ask yourself and your trip companions as you try to process your experience and integrate what you learned into daily life.

1. What are the top three things I will miss from my mission experience?

Mission trips often come with new friendships, a new love for the location you were in and a spiritual high. While we know that the trip can’t last forever, it is okay to think about what you will miss about being there. Recognizing things that will be missed is also a good way to think about what you may do differently at home.

2. What are the top three things I’m most thankful for at home?

Maybe you are really thankful for your family, your home church, the school you go to or that you have a stable place to eat and sleep each day. Spending some time to reflect on these things will help you have a greater appreciation for all that you have been blessed with!

3. What is one thing I want to remember from this experience?

We hope that we will remember it all but we also know that our memories can fade over time. It’s important to think of some of the highlights and make note so that you can hold onto this impactful experience for many years to come.

4. What do I feel like God was communicating to me during this time?

Do you feel like you learned a big lesson or felt a little nudge? Are you leaving with a renewed conviction to spend more time in the Bible or to get connected with a non-profit at home? Sometimes you don’t even realize what God was trying to tell you until you take a little time to process your experience.

5. Who will I share with when I get home so I can be held accountable for continuing this growth?

We are not meant to go through life alone. Talking about your experience and the things God communicated to you throughout the trip with someone you trust can be a great way to follow through on the promises you have made yourself.

Take the time to reflect on your mission trip

As you ask these questions really reflect on your experience. You may notice lessons that you learned without even being aware at the time. Maybe you want to write down some notes about the benefits of your experience and your answers to these questions so that you can look back on it in a few months.

After you have spent the time reflecting on your experience and preventing the disorientation, you will want to think through the conversations you will have with people at home. You’ll want to be ready to share one story about how the week impacted your life. When people at home ask, “What did you do?” they often really mean, “Whom did you serve, and how did the week impact your life?” Be ready!

Above all, don’t let all the transformation that you experienced during your mission experience fall away when the trip is over. Be intentional about bringing it home with you and always remembering the lessons God was teaching you.

Find Mission Trip Locations for Youth Groups

Are you planning a youth
mission trip for High school students?

Get a FREE copy of the Complete Guide to Planning a Youth Mission Trip. This complete guide will help make you plan your youth mission trip from beginning to end!
Get The Free eBook

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7 Ways to Empower and Encourage Youth Before a Youth Mission Trip

Elizabeth Bosscher — Fri, 20 Sep 2019 21:04:32 +0000

The post 7 Ways to Empower and Encourage Youth Before a Youth Mission Trip appeared first on ThereforeGo Ministries.

Beyond the details of planning for a youth service trip is one of its most essential elements: building enthusiasm. A youth mission trip may be one of the most positive and memorable experiences a young adult encounters. We need the youthful gifts of passion and creativity to align the church in the mission of God.

Here are seven ways to empower and encourage your youth as you partner with them on your short-term mission trip:

1. Make a list of the people (or the person) they most admire and their qualities.

Once they have this list, urge them to strive to achieve the most essential qualities. The list of distinctive attributes stimulates interest and propels them toward goals they can accomplish. Keeping these qualities top of mind can make for a more meaningful mission trip experience.

2. Spend time in prayer.

One of the most uncomplicated methods to deepen your youth ministry is to increase your commitment to prayer. Students, youth leaders and adult volunteers alike can all benefit from extended times of worship before, during and after their trips.

3. Reduce fear of failure.

Encourage teens to step outside their comfort zones. The critical element of the youth service mission is to get to know the people they are helping. It’s okay to ask questions. Remind them they might make a mistake. Guide them to continue on in a new way rather than seeing it as defeat.

4. Share and reflect before sleep.

Take time at the end of every day to think deeply about the day. Share accomplishments, tell stories, ask questions and answer concerns. Give a brief update on the next day’s schedule to set expectations for the morning and build excitement.

5. Develop a student leadership team.

Recruit highly determined teenagers with raw skills and train them to use their gifts as leaders. This responsibility builds confidence and shows them their opinions and ideas matter.

6. Plan after-hours activities.

When the work is done, encourage your youth to collaborate and create. Encourage them to pair off or form groups to create a skit or dance, write a song, play a game or do something else creative to share with the rest of the group.

7. Formalize reflection and feedback.

Recommend everyone keep a short journal to reflect and record thoughts during the trip. Or instead, send your youth group home with some open-ended questions to reflect on. Meet a week after the youth mission trip to celebrate and formally share the trip’s outcomes, new knowledge acquired and insights. You could also create an online survey to gather more information about your group’s experience during the mission trip.

Mission trips can be life-changing. Whether you attend a SERVE mission trip experience or another kind of short term mission experience, giving your youth group some preemptive things to ponder steers them from spiritual apathy and self-absorption and into a deeper relationship with Christ. During the trip, and after, keep up the reminders to focus on God and keep their eyes open for what he’s doing in their hearts and lives.

See all SERVE Mission Trip Locations

Are you planning a youth
mission trip for High school students?

Get a FREE copy of the Complete Guide to Planning a Youth Mission Trip. This complete guide will help make you plan your youth mission trip from beginning to end!
Get The Free eBook

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9 Benefits of Youth Mission Trips

Elizabeth Bosscher — Thu, 01 Aug 2019 17:00:53 +0000

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Through our 100 years of ministry, we have learned a lot including the fact that our youth mission trips are a powerful way to remain active in church and grow in your faith. Through a faith-forming, short-term mission trip experience, you will serve God and learn about what it means to get involved in the community and be a good neighbor. The participants, community and the churches involved all benefit in ways that will continue to guide and shape their lives years later.

Here are nine benefits to expect after taking part in a short-term mission trip:

1. God will change you.

You’re not going to change the world in the short time you spend on your mission trip. There’s so much going on around you that it’s challenging to make a significant impact in a week. You are there not for adventure, but for obedience. You are going because you know that God has commanded all of us to serve the world and love our neighbors. That is the main point of this trip. Soak it up and pray God will change your heart in extraordinary ways.

2. You build relationships with people.

Finishing a project is only a small part of a successful youth mission trip. The rest is all about building deep and meaningful relationships with the people around you. The people you cross paths with deserve to be treated with care and respect no matter their circumstances, no matter their level of education, no matter the color of their skin, no matter their language and no matter their needs. Be willing to ask questions. Go simply to learn and communicate. Come back with stories and the names of all the new people you’ve met, not just a photo album of nameless people and mission trip selfies.

3. Your comfort zone will be challenged.

Many of us get stuck in the sameness of our spiritual lives. It can be useful to step out of your comfort zone and allow God to stretch you. You’ll experience physical, mental and spiritual change during your week as you learn about the new place and build relationships with other Christ-followers.

4. You are taught faith in ways you don’t expect.

Sometimes God uses a short-term mission trip to reveal your purpose and God-given strengths. Sometimes on mission trips, people discover they want to start non-profit organizations, get degrees in social work or serve as a full-time missionary. The experience is a time and place to allow God to work in and through your life. Use the trip as an anchor in your faith, and it will propel you forward, deepening your relationship with God.

5. Your compassion grows.

Pain, suffering and poverty are not just things you learn about in the classroom or read about in the news. Behind these things are real people with names and families. Learning compassion through service on your teen mission trip can be a powerful form of knowledge.

6. You practice patience and flexibility.

Rarely on a mission trip does everything go as planned. Be ready to forgo things you enjoy in your day-to-day life to serve others. Requests you may think are simple may end up taking a lot of work. Be patient and trust in God, even when things don’t happen in the way you’re used to.

7. You become more globally aware and better understand the world.

Expect to encounter the world in a way you never have before and may never again. Despite language or cultural differences, all humans are fundamentally the same. We all have a need to be known, cared for and to have lives steeped in meaning and purpose. A short-term mission trip can open your eyes to the reality of life and make you turn to God in humility.

8. You commit to servanthood.

It’s easy to believe youth mission trips are about you and what you will gain. This list focuses on many of those very benefits. But these benefits should be the byproduct and not the main focus. Use the trip as a time to take your eyes off of yourself and look for the needs of others. How does God want you to help other people meet their needs? Continue your commitment to servanthood by serving in your church and community at home.

9. The benefits don’t end when the trip is over.

After the experience is over and you’re brimming with passion and stories, it doesn’t have to end. Continue to focus on seeking justice in your own neighborhood. Keep trying new things. You don’t have to fly on an airplane to serve others. Take what you learn and find a way to apply it in your day-to-day life.

If you’re considering a mission trip, either with Youth Unlimited or another organization, remember they can create dramatic shifts in how you view the world. After all, God uses short-term mission trips to make a long-term impact on the lives of those who serve.

To learn more about how you can serve communities in the USA and Canada in missions, head on over to our SERVE Missions Trip page for a list of trips and testimonials.

See all SERVE Mission Trip Location

Looking for more benefits of a youth mission trip? Check out this great resource!

The Many Benefits of a Service Trip Infographic

Saturday

Registration, welcome, community-building games.
You will usually be introduced to your small group, which consists of six to eight students and one adult leader from different churches.

Sunday

Breakfast, personal devotions, commissioning service at the Host Church. (Interested in hosting a mission trip as a “Host Church”?)
Lunch, team building, orientation, and organized fun.
Dinner, session with a speaker, worship, and small group discussions.

Monday through Friday

6:30 AM – Wake up
7:00 AM – Breakfast/prepare lunches
8:00 AM – Devotions
8:45 AM – Leave for work sites
4:00 PM – Showers/free time/organized games
5:15 PM – Leaders’ meeting
6:00 PM – Dinner
7:30 PM – Evening session with a speaker and worship
9:00 PM – Small group discussion
10:00 PM – Snack and free time
11:00 PM – Lights out

Saturday

Pack up and head home to serve in your own community!

Other:

Recreation/Sightseeing: At some point during the week, a half day or full day is set aside for recreation (organized by the Host Team). Expect to visit a local attraction, such as beach, theme park, do some sightseeing, etc.
Detailed schedules are set by the local Host Team and may vary from what’s described here. Please be flexible, and follow the schedule set by the Host Team.
Middle School experiences may start on Saturday or Sunday, and typically wrap-up on Friday.

We get this question a lot: “How old do you have to be to go on mission trips with ThereforeGo?”

High School SERVE Mission Trips: Any student who has completed grade 8 through graduating seniors in the spring of 2021. *We are making a one year age exemption for class of 2020 graduates who were unable to attend SERVE 2020, due to COVID restrictions.

Middle School SERVE Mission Trips: Any student who has completed grades 6 through 8.

Adult Leaders: Adult leaders must be 21 years or older. See more information under the question “What are adult leader expectations (and how many are needed)?”

Do I have to be in a youth group or can I come by myself?
Our current SERVE model does not accommodate individual participants. For more information contact us.

Find a mission trip destination here »

Find SERVE mission trip locations here on our trip locations page.

When choosing a mission trip, we recommend taking the following factors into consideration.

Dates: It’s important to figure out what dates work for your church and the largest number of people in your youth group.
Location: Do you want to drive? Are you willing to fly? Transportation can be one of the most complex factors to a mission trip so it is important to factor in how far and by which method you are willing to travel.
Capacity: If you have a large group (more than 15 people) we recommend that you look for a SERVE site that has a capacity of 60 or more. We have found that SERVE sites are more successful if we can place 3 or more different churches at any one site.

Browse trip locations here »

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5 Ways to Pray for Your Upcoming Mission Trip

Elizabeth Bosscher — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 18:23:53 +0000

The post 5 Ways to Pray for Your Upcoming Mission Trip appeared first on ThereforeGo Ministries.

Mission trips are often a life-changing experience. When planning to attend a mission trip there is more to the preparation than making sure your bag is packed with enough clean clothes for the week. You also want to prepare through prayer for all that you will experience.

Here are 5 ways you can pray in preparation for your upcoming mission trip.

1. Pray for the relationships that will be formed and strengthened by this experience…

“Lord, I pray that during this experience you would fill me with compassion, generosity, kindness and respect as I interact with the people I encounter. Teach me to look at the heart of people – the way you do – instead of judging by outward appearances. Give me sympathetic ears and observant eyes to be sensitive to the needs of those around me. Lastly, help me to remember this is a temporary community, cherishing the time I have with others while holding the knowledge that we will all go our separate ways soon.”

(1 Samuel 16:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:11; Proverbs 17:17)

2. Pray for your time at the worksites…

“Dear Father, enable me to understand and appreciate the situations I am walking into at worksites this week. Give me humility, wisdom and respect as I interact with others so that I will not offend anyone involved. Empower me to work with all my heart for you, Lord. Guard me against laziness, inattention, frustration, unrealistic expectations and other attitudes that can get me off course.”

(1 Corinthians 10:23-32; Colossians 3:23)

3. Pray for the times of worship and spiritual encounters during the week…

“Jesus, grant me a renewed joy in knowing you this week. Strengthen me to speak God’s Word boldly and to be prepared to explain my hope in Christ. Speak to me during devotions, through my small group and at the evening worship. Help me to grow in the fruits of the spirit during this week and carry these lessons home so that my faith would continue to grow and strengthen in the months to come.”

(1 Peter 3:15; Galatians 2:20; Galatians 5:22-23)

4. Pray for safety in the travel to and from the mission trip…

“Lord, I praise you that you do not sleep as you watch over me. Keep me and my group physically safe and healthy as we travel. Please provide me with patience and flexibility if things do not go according to the plan.”

(Psalm 121; James 4:14-16; Philippians 4:6)

5. Pray for the leaders on the trip…

“Heavenly Father, I pray that you would provide encouragement to the leaders and organizers of our mission trip. Help them remain faithful with the things you’ve entrusted to them. Let them set examples in speech, life, love and faith. Give them discernment to deal with any problems that may arise.”

(1 Corinthians 4:1-3; 1 Timothy 4:12)

We believe prayer is always impactful and hope that these prompts help you find a healthy state of emotional and spiritual well-being before you set off on your experience. Also, don’t forget to continue praying during your trip and as you head home.

Other resources to help you prepare for a mission trip include:

When Helping Hurts, book by Brian Fikkert
“Prepping Students for Missions” article by ThereforeGo Ministries

Find Mission Trip Locations for Youth Groups

Are you planning a youth
mission trip for High school students?

Get a FREE copy of the Complete Guide to Planning a Youth Mission Trip. This complete guide will help make you plan your youth mission trip from beginning to end!
Get The Free eBook

The post 5 Ways to Pray for Your Upcoming Mission Trip appeared first on ThereforeGo Ministries.

Youth Worker Survey- Top 3 Report

Elizabeth Bosscher — Wed, 03 Jul 2019 13:00:15 +0000

The post Youth Worker Survey- Top 3 Report appeared first on ThereforeGo Ministries.

A few months ago we distributed a survey aimed at youth workers of all kinds hoping to get a feel for some of the current trends in Youth Ministry. We will be using this data to share some recommendations periodically. Today we thought we would start by just telling you about the most popular responses to a few of the questions.

Top 3 Recommended Books

“Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry” by Doug Fields

“Sticky Faith” by Chap Clark and Kara E. Powell

“Growing Young” by Brad Griffin, Jake Mulder, and Kara E. Powell

Top 3 Podcast Recommendations

Youth Ministry Answers

Rethinking Youth Ministry

CPYU Podcasts

Honorable Mention: Download Youth Ministry Podcasts

Top 3 Websites for Youth Ministry Resources

Fuller Youth Institute

Right Now Media

Download Youth Ministry

Top 3 People to follow on Social Media

Doug Fields

Tim Keller

Andy Stanley

If you would like to view the survey or fill it out yourself CLICK HERE!

Disclaimer: The content in the above books, podcasts, websites and from the noted public figures do not necessarily reflect the views and theology of Youth Unlimited. To view our statement of faith and values please CLICK HERE.

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How to Plan a Mission Trip

ThereforeGo Ministries — Fri, 08 Feb 2019 17:00:00 +0000

The post How to Plan a Mission Trip appeared first on ThereforeGo Ministries.

7 Things to Do When Planning a Mission Trip for Teens

If you’re planning a mission trip for a youth group, it can seem overwhelming. Based on our experience, here are things to consider when planning a mission trip for youth:

Check dates with parents early in the process.

Even before October 1 of the year before the summer mission trip, begin asking parents if they have a family vacation planned or know of camps/activities in the summer you should plan around. Don’t just ask the students to ask their parents. Go to the parents directly. This gives you a good contact with them and avoids miscommunication.

Consider distance and destination.

How far do you want to travel? Will a long road trip build your group unity for the rest of the year? Does it fit the budget? How does the host church/community fit into the progression or rhythm of your mission strategy? Are you looking to move your students outside their typical environment (rural, urban, suburban, ethnicity, etc.) or teach them how others in a very similar environment love their community? Check out this list of mission trip locations for teens in the US and Canada or this list of 5 different types of impactful teen mission trips.

Budget carefully.

If you do not have a budget worksheet for your mission trips, ask your church treasurer to help you create one or call a youth ministry veteran. This is essential to your planning and fundraising. Raising funds is an important work of missions. Here’s some fundraising ideas for youth mission trips.

Raise prayer support.

Every summer there are over 1,500 students and youth leaders who go on SERVE, and we estimate there are more than 5,000 adults who support them in prayer. You might even put your vision, the intended outcomes and a bit about your team and your Host Church in your church bulletin before and after your trip.

Plan your post-trip process in three parts:

Debrief, follow up and follow through. This will help students understand what they think and how they feel about the trip and also help them integrate what they learned during the trip into their everyday life. See the SERVE Post-Trip Plan in the Resource Box for this process.

The Resource Box is full of great helps!

Check into it before you even start promoting. There is a planning timeline, a parents’ letter, pastors’ letter and promotional items to help you cast the vision.

Find Mission Trip Locations for Youth Groups
Get Help Planning Your Youth Group’s Mission Trip

Most importantly, change the thought from “Where should we go?” to “Let’s make disciples!”

When thinking about mission trips for teens, don’t get caught in the short-sited thinking of just planning a trip. Start with your heart to disciple your students in missional living that lasts a lifetime. Add to that your desire to serve and submit to the host church or ministry, and consider the 7 standards of excellence.

Whether you’re looking to start a mission trip for teens or organize a service trip for them, as you ponder the mission trip being one aspect of discipleship, consider the following:

A progression:

How can your students plug into the existing community outreach of your church or help advance it?
What experiences will teach your students how to minister in their own back yard?
How can they see the strengths and needs of your own community?

Consider planning a mission trip this summer that will help expand their understanding of how God works through churches to reach a community.

Then, build toward that trip with some late winter and spring service projects in your own backyard.

Plan to go back to those service projects in August – October to follow up relationally, and perhaps continue through the rest of the school year.

For more help on planning a specific trip, contact us or feel free to call our office (1-616-241-5616).

A rhythm:

You might consider a very local mission trip for your students in middle school, then a regional one for grades 9 and 10, and a longer distance trip for your older students. Or, keep them all together and go local, regional and long distance progressively.

You do not have to leave the country to learn about another culture!

No matter where you live in the United States or Canada, you can find first/second generation immigrants (or possibly first nation people groups) to learn from and serve with. In fact, Youth Unlimited has some customizable mission trip locations in the US and Canada that include cross-cultural learning.

Find Mission Trip Locations for Youth Groups
Get Help Planning Your Youth Group’s Mission Trip

Your teaching:

Your mission trip and service projects are like fence posts. They won’t do much good without the rails of ongoing mentoring relationships (in missional living) and solid week-to-week Bible teaching.

Add into your curriculum Bible content on missions, missional living and stories of those who live life on mission. The Youth Unlimited Resource Box has suggested pre- and post-trip teaching sessions. Talk about, or even bring in and interview, the business leader who sees their career as missions,\ or the pregnancy center director or the prayer warrior for your missionaries, etc.

Are you planning a youth mission trip?

Get a FREE copy of the Complete Guide to Planning a Youth Mission Trip. This complete guide will help make you plan your youth mission trip from beginning to end!

Get the FREE eBook

For help on planning a specific trip, contact us or feel free to call our office (1-616-241-5616).

SlideShare Version

How to Plan a Mission Trip from Youth Unlimited

This post is an edited excerpt from the Youth Unlimited Magazine (Fall 2015).

We believe that whether mission trips help or not depends on the type of mission trip you have. Real lasting impact is never accomplished in a week. This is why we partner with local churches to provide our SERVE mission trips! All our sites are run by volunteers who live and work in these communities all year long.

We believe that SERVE mission trips provide a two-fold impact:

On the individual involved in SERVE. We hope that each student and adult:
- Become doers of the Word and not hearers only
- Become justice conscious, meeting needs while being introduced to the root causes and concerns
- Grow in their personal faith
- Continue serving others when they return to their home church and community
On the relationship between the church and the community. We hope that the week of SERVE helps them to:
- Identify community assets and needs
- Provide an infusion of energy to their mission, vision, and outreach efforts
- Help deepen personal relationships and partnerships within their local community. Our host sites are encouraged to partner with ministries that they have an existing relationship with and allow this group of teenagers to bring energy and excitement to the long-term partnership.

Keep It Safe: Make photocopies of your passport’s identification page and/or of your identification cards, and keep the copies separate from the original when you travel. For added security, leave a copy with a friend or relative at home.

Traveling with Minors: Any adult who is not a parent or guardian should have written permission to supervise the child from the parent or guardian, as well as the child’s identification, and carry it with them. A letter would also facilitate entry for any one parent traveling with their children. This permission letter should contain addresses and telephone numbers where the parent or guardian can be reached. (Example Consent to Travel Form – find more forms and resources here) It is strongly recommended that the letter is notarized.

There are numerous resources for your church to use in the planning and preparation for your trip. Visit our online Resource Box!

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Keep Seeking

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 14:28:11 +0000

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by Travis Deur

Nearly ten years ago, I heard the testimony of a man who had come to faith later in his life. He shared with me how surprised he was to find out so many Christians he talked to as a new believer were not reading their Bibles on a daily basis. I shrank deep into my chair. I was playing the part of a Christian. I was at church every week, going through the motions and outwardly doing the right things, but I honestly wasn’t doing much in the way of seeking God.

“Keep seeking!” seems to answer many of the faith questions I’m regularly asked or asking myself. Not sure about this whole God thing? Keep seeking! Bought in, but you don’t feel very close to him at the moment? Keep seeking! Stewing in uncertainty and doubt? Keep seeking!

The more consistently I read and the deeper I dug after that conversation, the more the dots connected. It was amazing how many times my daily devotions, the Sunday sermon, my Bible study group’s weekly lesson and the song that caught my attention on the radio were all saying the same thing to me. More seeking lead to more seeing. More time encountering God and discussing the Word in more places fed my faith in ways it never thrived in the decades before. I was participating in my faith journey instead of following along.

The road to and through faith has also been more meaningful as I surround myself with a larger and more diverse group of seekers. New life is breathed into the same conversation topics when you connect them to other people’s stories and the moments they’ve encountered God. You hear about their struggles, their questions, their lightbulb moments and see your personal reflections in a new light. You also begin to wonder if other people, who have not yet found God, feel the same way.

The testimonies of other believers coupled with examples from faith-based books have shaped my understanding of others whose faith journey follows a different map than mine. Someone in my youth group, my church or my neighborhood may not connect with my personal story, but can I connect them to God through someone else’s. And then there are the moments you hear about someone’s walk with the Lord and you realize, “That’s me!” and you find clarity for your own struggles and shortcomings.

I believe each of us has a story tailor-made for reaching certain people, and the more stories I collect the more opportunities I have to borrow from one experience to build up another. God starts to find you in all the places you’re living if you just keep seeking.

Travis is the Director of Youth Ministries at Faith CRC in New Brighton, MN

[This is an excerpt from the Fall 2018 Magazine. To read more stories CLICK HERE]

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Middle School: A Key Age

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 14:20:42 +0000

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Interview with Scott Post

“I would say youth who have participated in SERVE go on to be more regularly involved in local service opportunities, both while they are in high school and beyond.”

In a cultural climate which tells us our youth are leaving the church and faith in God is declining, Scott believes middle school is a key age to engage students in faith formation.

During the year, Scott encourages his middle schoolers to go past just reading their Bibles and praying every day. “We’ve spent a lot of time in the context of our community intentionally building spiritual practices that help us live out the gospel.” SERVE, for his group, becomes an extension of that goal. “SERVE is a spiritual practice of trying on, for a short period of time, what it means to live out the gospel. Because they had a good feeling or a good experience serving people in these other contexts, they have an easier time thinking, oh, maybe it would be ok to spend my time and my life serving people here, right where I live.”

The students on these trips cannot always see for themselves the impact SERVE has. “[If this is their first time signing up], they are expecting this is going to be an enjoyable trip, most likely with their friends, where they are going to meet new people, learn about God, serve some people and probably have a lot of fun. In the process of reflection [after the trip], they start to see how the experience of SERVE is deeply connected to what they believe about God or what we believe about Jesus or what it means to live out the gospel story.”

There is no doubt in Scott’s mind that bringing both middle schoolers and high schoolers on SERVE is valuable and worth it. He encourages others to “trust the results” and says, “Our church has seen the fruit of [SERVE] play out in these kids’ lives and years down the road. Easily.”

Scott is the Youth Pastor at CrossPoint CRC in Brampton, ON

[This is an excerpt from the Fall 2018 Magazine. To read more stories CLICK HERE.]

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Engaging Youth

Elizabeth Bosscher — Tue, 19 Dec 2017 19:38:58 +0000

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by Kevin VanderVeen

As a youth pastor, I find myself praying for young people in the church often. I pray young people will discover the depth of God’s love for them and know that they are fearfully and wonderfully made. I pray they will take joy in God as the greatest treasure of their life. I pray they will become increasingly aware of how God has uniquely gifted them to serve in his kingdom. I pray the young people in the church may experience a sense of urgency to use and develop their gifts for God’s glory.

At Covenant, we are blessed with young people of all ages, and we’re learning how to approach our ministry to young people in a way that is strategic and developmentally appropriate. As we wonder about what this looks like, we find ourselves asking questions like:

How do we engage young people meaningfully so they will grow and develop spiritually? And what congregational practices lead to spiritual maturity in our young people? In my experience, we are not alone in wrestling with questions like these. The fact is, ministering to young people is an area of concern for the church, and we are all trying to learn how to do this well.

Each ministry context is different, which means ministry will take a different shape in each of our church communities. I would like to suggest, though, that there are some things we can do, regardless of context, to strengthen our ministry to young people. Strengthening our programs or making programmatic changes is not one of those things. If we are going minister to young people in the church effectively, then we need to think bigger; we need to begin thinking about the culture within our church communities. Young people want to feel as though they are a part of the church, and they want to be embraced by the church as a valued part of the body of Christ. To me, that suggests that we, as churches, need to enfold young people into the life of the church.

What would that look like?

Fuller Youth Institute put together a list of common characteristics that are present in churches engaging young people effectively. Here are four of those characteristics:

Cultivating authentic community through peer and intergenerational relationships.

Relationship is key, but youth need both peer and intergenerational relationships. Many churches offer opportunities for peer relationships but struggle with intergenerational relationships. I wonder what it would look like for us to get together, intergenerationally, to share our faith stories. We encourage young people to reflect on their faith stories, but do we ever share our stories with them? I have been blessed by hearing stories from the older members in our community. We have all experienced God in different ways, and sharing those experiences helps build relationships.

Treating parents as active partners in discipleship.

Youth ministry is always youth and family ministry. As churches, we need to find meaningful ways to encourage and equip parents as they partner with us in discipleship. Many parents want to be a part of their children’s spiritual growth, but they’re not sure how, so they hand off the responsibility to church leaders. We need to find ways to give parents the tools they need to partner with us in discipleship.

Intentional engagement with wider culture with a redemptive focus.

Perhaps the greatest gift that we, as churches, can give to young people is the capacity to think critically and theologically about the world around them. Our approach must be twofold: first laying a theological foundation, and second, engaging with broader culture with a redemptive focus.

Corporate worship that is both engaging and intergenerational.

In our context, one of the most celebrated times is corporate worship, and young people love being involved. We have young people leading worship, reading scripture and running our technology. Our young people love having leadership in worship, and the Covenant community has been blessed by their leadership. When worship leading and planning is intergenerational, young people are drawn in and engaged.

As a pastor, I pray for the young people in the church today, but I also pray for the church. I pray God may lead and guide us forward as we seek to be faithful to his calling for us. I pray the church may foster intergenerational relationships, partner with parents, engage the world well and worship in inclusive and meaningful ways.

When the church engages young people meaningfully, church ministry thrives. We are on a journey of learning how to engage young people effectively, let us learn together.

Kevin is part of the Niagara, ON Host Team as well as the Pastor Of Community at Covenant CRC in St. Catharines, ON.

[This is an excerpt from the Fall 2017 Magazine. To read more stories CLICK HERE]

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The Many Benefits of a Service Trip for Your Church Youth Group (Infographic)

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 18 Sep 2017 17:51:17 +0000

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If you have ever been on a SERVE trip (or really any kind of service trip), you can testify that it is a life changing experience. But, have you ever tried to explain that to someone who hasn’t ever experienced a mission trip themselves? It’s hard. You want to tell them all about the feelings you felt and the gratitude you received and all the lessons you learned; however, sometimes it’s too difficult to put those things into words.

So, what do you do when you want to take your youth group on a service trip and you need to convince some of those critical people in your church why it is important? Maybe we can help! Whether you are planning a SERVE mission trip, a trip through another organization, or organizing it yourself, below is an infographic with some facts and words to help you explain how a service trip can impact your youth and church as well as the community you are going to serve.

Find a Service Trip

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Christian Community

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 14:44:53 +0000

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by Adrianna Wimmers

Stress is mental or emotional strain caused by demanding or adverse circumstances. Stress can come from many different situations and can be overwhelming, leading oneself to not know where to turn to or what to do about the stress they are experiencing. Balancing school, friends, relationships, extra-curricular activities, jobs and everything in between can add unnecessary and often unwanted stress.

Stress and being overwhelmed can blind us to many things like the people who can and are willing to help us get out of our hole that we have stressed ourselves into. Our stress can also blind us to the other people around us that are stressed too. We become unable to see the world around us; we become too consumed with what we ourselves are dealing with.

We often take stress out on those around us, instead of turning to them for support and comfort. We believe that isolation is what we want, but we do not have to be alone.

Community is the feeling of fellowship with others as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests and goals. Building community is important to do, and a supportive community is helpful in so many ways. God even tells us this in Galatians 6:2 “Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.” We can share our stress and burdens with our community and turn to them for support and comfort. We can also look around at those in our community and show them our support, show them that they are not alone and that others have felt what they have felt as well.

Community is where you can turn in all circumstances, not just in times of sadness or stress. We can rejoice with our community and celebrate together.

Romans 12 says, “Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble and keep praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other.” Stressed and overwhelmed or joyful and prepared to celebrate, community is where we can turn to.

Turn to the community, build community and invest in community. Our God did not create us to live in solitude, but with people, who can help, love and support us.

Our God loves us so deeply and will never leave us, he will always give us strength for what we need, whether that be strength found within ourselves or strength gained from the support of our community.

Students this summer are learning and growing in Authentic Community. To find out more about what they’re learning, click here.

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Don’t be Afraid of the Big Ideas

Elizabeth Bosscher — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 18:23:18 +0000

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Do you ever feel too small for your big ideas? God loves to use people who don’t seem important enough to do his most important work. Consider these examples from the Bible:

Elijah- He spent some serious time in prayer and it changed the weather for THREE YEARS! You know the weather, that thing everyone acknowledges is totally out of our control… Elijah affected it through the power of prayer and he was just a guy like us.

“¹⁷Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. ¹⁸Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.” James 5:17-18

Moses- This guy got asked to do big things by God and had some serious doubts about his own ability.

“¹⁰But Moses said to the Lord, ‘Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.’”- Exodus 4:10.

But when he put his faith and trust in the Lord’s power working through him, he was able to lead the Israelites out of Egypt through the Red Sea which he separated to make a dry path. Wow, that is a big dream that God used “un-eloquent” Moses for.

Gideon- Gideon was from a small clan that was being ruled and terrorized by a bigger clan, the Midianites. He was scared and felt hopeless when an angel appeared to him and told him that if he went and stood up against the enemy the Lord would make sure he won! Crazy.

“¹⁵And he said to him, ‘Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.’ ¹⁶And the Lord said to him, ‘But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.’” Judges 6:11-16

SERVE is a big dream sometimes. I mean, we are talking about taking close to 2,000 students and youth leaders and having them travel away from their home, sometimes even to a different country, and housing them in churches and schools so they can put in hard work all week on service projects that are often far from glamorous. What could go wrong? Well, a lot. A lot can go wrong and there have been plenty of problems throughout the years; but with God’s help and his power working through us, SERVE can be more impactful and life changing than we could ever imagine.

So, are you ready to dream big with us?

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How to Play Life Size Pac-Man Game (Easy Guide)

Elizabeth Bosscher — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 14:00:20 +0000

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Are you trying to find group games to play at your SERVE youth mission trip site or even just with your Youth Group?

I worked at a camp for a few summers, and one of the games we played was life size Pac-Man (also known as “Human Pac-Man”). This quickly turned into one of my favorite games and is not too hard to pull off!

Here are instructions on how to make life size Pac-Man happen at your event.

Supplies:

Tape
Pool noodles
2 Baskets or containers of some sort
A sheet or some kind of costume for a “Ghost”
A big room or outdoor space

Set-Up:

Make a maze on the floor with the tape. Make sure the lanes are wide enough for someone to walk through comfortably. Pick two spots somewhere on the edges to be entrance/exits. Put a basket or container at each exit.
Cut the pool noodles into little slices to act as the pieces the player will pick up along the way. You could also use coins or some other round object but we found pool noodle pieces were a good size.
Choose two Ghosts (we found it best if a leader took on this role) and dress them up. We just used white sheets and wrapped them around ourselves.

Psst… Have you checked out our summer youth group mission trip locations for this year?

Rules:

There is 1 Pac-Man and 2 Ghosts in the maze at a time.
Pac-Men can go any direction and turn whenever they want as long as they stay within the lines of the maze.
Ghosts can only move forward, unless they reach a dead end (then, they can turn around).
Ghosts have to move at a consistent speed. It’s also more fun if they make beeping noises as they move.
A Pac-Man can deposit the pieces they have collected into their “bank” if they make it to one of the 2 exits. They can than re-enter the game to continue collecting pieces.
If a Ghost catches a Pac-Man, they lose a life and have to sacrifice all the pieces they are holding.
How to Win / When the Game Ends
- The Ghosts win if the Pac-Man loses all their lives (you can choose how many lives they will have to vary the difficulty).
- If a Pac-Man collects all the pieces before they lose their lives, they win.
Keeping Score:
- If you want to play more than one game of life-size Pac-Man (ex. a tournament) or want to figure out who came in 2nd and 3rd place, you can count up the pieces each Pac-Man collected at the end of each game and use that as the score for that individual.

Speaking of fun things for youth groups to do, check out our summer youth mission trip locations in the USA and Canada!

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Seven Different Mentors Your Students Need

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 12:44:50 +0000

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The following is a blog post by Tim Elmore of Growing Leaders. To view the original post, click here.

One of the most common questions I receive from college students is: “How do I find a mentor?” What they mean by this is—how can I locate or identify the right kind of mentor for my personal plans?” Over the years, I’ve found the majority of students say they desire to have a mentor in their life; someone they could call and bounce a question off of; someone who is slow to judge but quick to offer hope.

A couple of years ago, Gallup released findings from the largest representative study of U.S. college graduates. The Gallup-Purdue Index surveyed more than 30,000 graduates to find out whether or not they’re engaged in their work and thriving in their life. In short Gallup wondered: “Do college graduates end up with great jobs and great lives?”

One of the most memorable findings is: where you went to college matters less to your life after graduation than how you went to college. Inside Higher Ed states:

“Feeling supported and having deep learning experiences during college means everything when it comes to long-term outcomes after college. Unfortunately, not many graduates receive a key element of that support while in college: having a mentor. And this is perhaps the biggest blown opportunity in the history of higher ed.”

The students who succeeded were the ones who said, “I had a professor or a staff member who built a relationship with me and offered counsel during my tough semesters or uncertain days. It made all the difference in the world.”

Why Don’t We Do This?
Most of you reading this article will agree—students benefit from mentors. At the same time, more of us talk about mentoring than actually do it. Some of us excuse our lack of involvement by saying we can’t find “hungry students.” Others say they just don’t know what to say to connect with students. After all, they’re . . . uh . . . different. Many of us never mentor anyone because we hold a stereotype in our minds of what a mentor looks like. And . . . alas, we just don’t fit our own stereotype.

Perhaps this list below will help.

In their insightful book, Connecting, Dr. Robert Clinton and Paul Stanley outline the seven different kinds of mentors that most often exist in our lives. Dr. Clinton was one of my professors as I did my doctoral studies and has remained a long-distance mentor in my life. I have tweaked the list he offered to fit our world today, and I offer it to you below. It is important for us to examine these seven roles for two reasons:

To determine which kind we most need in our own life.
To determine which kind we are best suited to be for someone else.

Seven Kinds of Mentors

Knowing your personal style and gifts will enable you to better decide what kind of mentoring role you will successfully fulfill in a student’s life. Note these different kinds of mentors below:

The Mentor Tutor
They help with basic qualities and skills of maturation. It generally involves frequent meetings, and the agenda originates from the mentor—not the mentee. Why? Because the mentee is often young and inexperienced, not knowing what they must learn.
The Mentor Personal Guide
They offer accountability and direction as the mentee makes significant decisions. The mentee may already be mature, but just needs advisement on an infrequent basis. It still involves a maturation process, but it can be done by a peer with gifts or perspective.
The Mentor Coach
They provide motivation and skills needed to meet a task or a challenge. While there is a relationship, it can be a short-term connection until the mentee acquires the ability to perform a task independently. It involves meetings that are scheduled more on a project basis.
The Mentor Counselor
They furnish timely advice and perspective on self, others, and interests or passions. This mentor enables the mentee to step back and gain a big-picture view, adding insight on issues, for a person who’s less mature, experienced or has blind spots.
The Mentor Teacher
They impart knowledge and understanding on a specific subject. Mentor-teachers are most common when a mentee needs to learn more about a new issue and the mentor has the insights needed. It can involve frequent or infrequent meetings.
The Mentor Sponsor
They give out of their network, experience and accumulated knowledge. They may not be “conversationalists,” nor know a lot personally, but they generously give from their wealth of contacts and reading. They can offer protection and direction.
The Mentor Model and Consultant
They offer a living, personal example for life, marriage, family or career. Often seasoned veterans, they embody a wise lifestyle in each life station they experience along the way. They may be people of few words, but their lives are vivid sermons.

Questions:

Which of these mentor types do you need most yourself?

Which of these could you naturally become for a student?

Youth Unlimited organizes summer youth mission trips called SERVE at many different locations across the US and Canada. Click here to visit our SERVE Site Locations page.

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LIVE IT: Documenting our Journey

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 05 Jul 2016 13:05:47 +0000

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The following is an article from our Spring 2016 magazine. To view the whole magazine, click here.

I recently had a discussion with some high school students about whether or not I was going to lock up their cell phones during our week long summer mission trip. They listed many reasons to keep their phones, but the one that surprised me most was their desire to be able to “check-in” to all the landmark locations we will be visiting while away.

Cell phones have become a modern day “Captain’s Log” documenting significant events, adventures and discoveries along life’s journey. In my new role as the LIVE IT Director for Youth Unlimited, I have been considering how our students log their spiritual journeys and what locations they’ll remember as the landmarks of their spiritual adventures.

Those of us who grew up without a cell phone can recall a specific service trip where our faith grew outside of our comfort zone or a youth convention where we discovered how our talents and abilities fit into God’s Kingdom.

Today, LIVE IT is an “unconventional youth convention” where students learn about their value in Christ while exploring how to use their talents to spread God’s love to their friends, community and world. By pairing students with like-minded peers and adults, they will see how God created them with a purpose so much greater than self-gratification. By offering different tracks in athletics, arts and service, students will recognize how each person comes to the table with their own personality, interests and God-given talents. Within each track they’ll learn spiritual disciplines to help discover how their voice helps create the body of Christ. Students are also challenged to return home and use what they’ve experienced at LIVE IT to spread God’s love throughout our communities and our world.

On July 30, 2017, hundreds of students and adults will converge in Estes Park, Colorado for LIVE IT 2017. It is my prayer that during this five-day event, students and adults will document deep in their hearts and minds their tremendous value in Christ. That they will discover their unique talents and abilities necessary for the building of God’s Kingdom. Most of all, I pray that LIVE IT 2017 will be more than just another place where students “check-in” but that it will be a place that will launch them into the next phase of their journey with Christ… And if they happen to have their cell phones with them, I hope they check-in, tweet and Instagram every adventure, every discovery and every new friend they meet, and that they tag it all with #LiveIt2017!

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An Open Letter to Our Graduating Seniors

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 24 May 2016 15:21:07 +0000

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Dear High School Seniors,

It’s here! Your long-awaited, joy-filled, nerve-racking day is finally here! You are graduating from high school, and today we are certain you’re looking back saying, “Wait, where did the time go?!”

Oh seniors, there are so many things we want to tell you, it’s hard to know where to begin. Your life is such an adventure; each day ordained by God. In the days to come, you will know trial, pain, loss and grief. But more than these things, you will know peace, love, comfort, joy and hope beyond what you can even imagine.

God’s plans for you are so much bigger than you can comprehend, and this is only the beginning of a long period of looking back and being amazed at what God has done. Take this moment; take this day to stand in awe of his faithfulness to you over the last 18 years. The things God has brought you through, the doors he has opened for you and the passions he has placed on your heart are the opposite of small.

Perhaps as you look back you feel a mix of things. There are seasons where your life looks more like a battlefield than a safe haven. You have known loss and trial beyond what any 18 year old should know. You are in his hands, and yes, he IS working all things together for your good. There is time for things to improve. He has an amazing plan for YOU.

In other seasons, looking back is sweet. God has filled your life with joy and good things. Rejoice in what he has done and the ways he has provided! Know that every good and perfect gift is from above, and praise him for how gentle he has been with your heart. Use this season to pursue him more, so that when trials come, you have a solid rock to stand on.

Seniors, we want you to know how much we have loved you. Our prayer for you is that you go forth into the world in confidence and hope; knowing his ways are higher than your ways and his thoughts are higher than your thoughts.

We are so proud of you. You have accomplished much; you have amazed yourself, your parents and us through your service, love, commitment and growth. You’ve been leaders this year through your words and actions. As you step into new adventures, be they college, work or missions, know that we are right behind you, cheering you on and believing in you more than you’d ever think possible.

We are having a hard time letting you go. You’ve brought us joy, laughter, life and love. You’ve led us into a deeper knowledge and revelation of God; you’ve driven us into the throne room for intercession, and you’ve shown us what it means to live in wonder of God. Your leadership in your schools and youth group has inspired us to say “yes” to the Kingdom more, and you’ve blessed us beyond what you’ll ever know.

As you step into a new season of life, know that we are never far away. In your youth leaders, you will always have a confidant, a prayer warrior and a friend. God goes before you; do not be afraid.

With all our love,
Your youth leaders

“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8

Learn about our SERVE high school summer mission trips.

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Combat the Ministry Blues

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 10 May 2016 17:28:12 +0000

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We love the students in our ministry, don’t we?

They cause us to laugh so hard we cry. They challenge us to staring contests with billboards (we always lose). They come up with the wackiest ideas, and they try their very hardest to keep us up to date on the latest slang (bless their hearts).

We would do anything for them.

They are the reason our cell phone is on loud next to our bed at 3:30 in the morning. We have cried tears of bitter pain on their behalf and along with them. They have shown us the incredible amount of hurt in the world, which seems to be exposed to our high schoolers at younger and younger ages.

I know I am not alone in saying if I could, I would give my students the world. I would take away the pressure of being skinny enough, of making the baseball team or of finding the perfect date to the prom in a heartbeat if I were able. But I can’t.

Youth ministry (or any type of ministry, really) can be just plain emotionally draining. We feel it – the ache, the tension, the joy, the excitement. A text from a student can change the entire course of our day. A Wednesday night at youth group tires us out in ways we didn’t even realize were possible. Sometimes, we come back from youth group and want to share the amazing ways Jesus was working in our students’ hearts in such a short amount of time, and sometimes we come back and just want to throw a pizza in the oven and have our backs rubbed.

Both are legitimate.

Youth worker, your emotional health matters. Because each day has the power to be filled with such intense emotions, we need to recognize the mood swings and learn how we respond to them. It is downright difficult to lead a student who struggles with depression if your own depression is out of control. It feels like the straw that breaks the camel’s back when a student makes a joke about how “old” you are after a long day of fighting for more funding for your summer mission trip. Sometimes, stress from our own personal life causes us to have to take the night off, or the month off, or the rest of the year off.

Learning to cope with the different mood swings you will have in youth ministry begins with recognizing that this is not an easy task. Retreats and Serve trips can make it seem like youth ministry is a lot of fun, and it certainly is. However, if we are only in it for the fun we get to have sporadically throughout the year, I would argue we are in it for the wrong reasons. High school is hard, and it tests our kids. Being an adult is hard, and it tests us in some pretty significant ways as well.

So when the hard times come, and they frequently do, it’s important to have an action plan in place for yourself to combat the ministry blues. Treat yourself to some alone time, and do what it takes to recharge there: buy yourself a cup of coffee, take a walk, or take a nap. Make time for those you are close to outside of ministry: leave your phone in the car when you’re out for date night, binge watch your favorite series on Netflix with a friend, or call your parents.

Know that your emotional health matters equally as much as that of your students. Do what you need to do to keep yourself healthy for the sake of your family and friends.

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Bridging Generations

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 17:18:31 +0000

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One of the many tensions in youth ministry is how much to integrate youth programs with the larger church. Many youth programs have their own separate wing of the church and do not feel connected to the church. It is essential that teenagers maintain their Christian identity with the larger church so they continue to attend, post-graduation. However, teenagers have unique needs that are different from children and adults that require special attention. So how does a church find this balance?

The first thing a youth pastor can do is observe and assess what is currently being done. How many graduates stay in the church if they stay local? Do they attend another church if they are carrying out their vocation elsewhere? What types of services do students attend currently? Is the midweek program highly attended by teens but not Sunday mornings? If there is also a Sunday morning youth gathering, and do students attend that and the preaching service? If not, a good, small change to start is to encourage students to attend the preaching service so they will continue to attend upon graduation.

Another area of consideration, in addition to regular weekly programming, is how much to integrate events. Even though many teenagers loathe their parents during their teenage years, they can be connected to other generations. Perhaps high schoolers can join a young adult group for worship or they can share a camp for a winter retreat. Giving students informal ways to connect with older generations, other than their parents, gives them valuable relationships.

Some churches opt to involve parents in annual events such as a school year kick off. It really depends on the culture of the church. Some churches, however, find it best to have parent meetings separate from youth gatherings. Having “parent nights” or events where parents attend alienates students who do not come from Christian families. It wouldn’t be uncommon at an event in which parents were encouraged to attend with their students for the youth pastor to ask the parents to pray with their students. This has the potential to be a difficult situation to navigate, both practically and emotionally speaking, for a student whose parents may either not be present or may be present, but not be Christians. Youth pastors must think through the implications of events like this. Perhaps, the youth pastor could have warned the student before and/or assigned him another family with whom he/she could pray.

Youth can join their parents and be included in annual church wide events such as picnics. However, the key to getting teenagers to attend is getting them to serve in some way, or having an aspect of the events that will appeal to them. (Lots of students have always wanted to put their youth pastor in a dunk tank!) Teenagers have gifts that need to be used by the church at large—from dishing out food to playing music. These experiences are invaluable to their spiritual development and religious identity.

Overall, a youth pastor should not be making these decisions on his or her own. “Outsiders”, such as parents, elders and other pastors, ought to be included on these discussions. Asking outsiders to brainstorm alongside the youth pastor can bring in different perspectives and judgment calls. Ultimately, a youth pastor should be in prayer on this tension to seek the Spirit’s guidance on what is best for the specific congregation.

Youth Unlimited organizes summer missions trips for young adults, high school and middle school age at locations across the United States and Canada. Visit our SERVE page for more information about the trips, or visit our site locations page to see where some of our next SERVE Missions will be held.

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Why Your Next Training Event Will Fail

ThereforeGo Ministries — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 15:36:19 +0000

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Do “life changing” events really change lives? The following is a post by Tim Elmore of Growing Leaders. To view the original post click here.

A few years ago, a university invited me to come and speak at their annual leadership lecture series. This is an endowed event every year, but that particular year—they decided to really make it big. The staff wanted to see life-change in the students who attended. We spent hours on the phone preparing for those two days, brainstorming creative elements, interviews to be done, videos we could show, etc. It was certain to be the highlight of the school year and a surefire life-transforming event.

We pulled off the event spectacularly. Everything came off without a hitch or a glitch. Sadly, however, the administration told me that within a month, nothing really changed. Within four to six weeks, life on the campus returned to normal. The routines continued and all the great ideas evaporated.

I wish this was an isolated incident. But too many life-changing events don’t actually change any lives.

As a kid, before I became a type one diabetic, I loved cotton candy. It was the snack of choice when our family visited a theme park or local carnival. For me, there was nothing like eating a huge swirl of blue or pink cotton candy on a summer day—walking between Tomorrowland and the Matterhorn at Disneyland. One afternoon, my sister couldn’t finish her cotton candy. Naturally, I offered to finish it for her. I had just downed mine, and I had no idea how a second helping would impact my stomach. I soon found out. I got sicker than a dog. It was an awful way to spend an afternoon.

I have since come to understand the true value of cotton candy. It is a tasty treat in small doses. It’s delicious, but it was never intended to replace a nutritious meal. It’s pure sugar, for Pete’s sake. It’s a dessert. You don’t eat it until you’re full. In fact, it disintegrates when it hits your tongue or fingers.

I could say the same things about leadership training events, hosted by organizations or schools across the U.S. Administrators make the mistake I did with cotton candy. We overdose on events that can never actually nourish us. They motivate, but they can’t mature someone in their leadership skills. And even the motivation vanishes quickly. I bet that annual conference you just attended is nothing but a great memory in the minds of your students. No lasting change took place—except for a notebook that now collects dust on your shelf. Like cotton candy, we all love events—but they’re sugar. They energize us, but don’t last.

Events and Process

It’s not a new thought. People enjoy events because they stimulate and motivate—but we all know we need a growth process following the event, if we hope to make it last. In other words, after attending a training event, most people require an on-going journey; a community of relationships where the discussion expands. In the process, people continue to talk about and apply the principles that were introduced at the event. This is how good habits begin. This is how life change occurs. Every one of us needs a process that follows the event to seal what was learned. Look at the value of both:

Events	Process
1. Encourage decisions	1. Encourages development
2. Motivate people	2. Matures people
3. Create a calendar issue	3. Creates a consistency issue
4. Challenge people	4. Changes people
5. Become a catalyst	5. Becomes a culture
6. Usually influence a big group	6. Usually influences a small group
7. Typically are easy	7. Typically is difficult

There is nothing wrong with events. I believe, however, that both students and adults require the combination of events and process in order to grow. They often need a catalyst (at an event) to spark a decision. Then they need a week by week process to follow through and implement that decision into their life. The younger an audience is, the more they need a process to be in place to foster growth. Further, the younger an audience is, the more concrete this process must be. It cannot be abstract or conceptual. The process must be specific and intentional. Sadly, for most students—this is a luxury. We whisk them off to the next concert, retreat, conference or convention. We’re on to a new subject. This is why so few lasting changes happen after summer youth camp. It was a great event—but no process followed

The Non-Negotiables: What Does a Student Development Process Look Like?

So just what is required to do a leader-development process? No doubt the process can take on many forms. No two may look alike. I believe, however, the essential elements are listed below.

Community Interaction

People need to interact. They learn as much through uploading as they do receiving a download of information from a leader. They learn best in social contexts. Engagement and ownership of the issue increases as students have the opportunity to push back and think out loud with a handful of others.

Relevant Resources

To insure the interaction doesn’t get hijacked into a black hole, resources are helpful to furnish direction and discovery. They are not a “god” but a guide. A resource could be a book, a podcast, MP3 download, article, CD or DVD to stimulate thoughtful reflection and discussion on the topic.

Facilitated Exercise

This element stimulates members of the community by involving them in more than discussion. It invites other senses through role-playing, case studies, activities, or hypothetical situations. By engaging their imagination, these exercises awake the creative right brain.

Real-Time Modeling

A good process always includes a leader within the community who incarnates the principle being discussed. Because people do what people see, the conversation gains traction because a leader is providing a living example—not merely words. As the saying goes, actions always speak louder.

Action Steps

At some point in the process, a leader should challenge the community with a real-life assignment. People must have the opportunity to practice the truth they are learning. Many students today are primarily kinesthetic learners, and they require activity in their growth process.

Measured Assessment

It has been said that experience is the best teacher. I believe evaluated experience is the best teacher, because folks can easily have a bad experience and draw the wrong conclusion. Students need adults to help them process successes and failures in order to draw the right life application. A process should include a time of evaluation of each student’s growth.

Time Elapse

A process cannot take place overnight, any more than a mom or dad can parent a child overnight. Learning requires time to pass for ideas to be digested. Most plants and animals do not grow up in a day or two. Neither do leaders. They are grown in crockpots—not microwave ovens.

I suggest that you never plan an event unless you also plan a process to follow that event. When I visit a campus and teach leadership, our team works with the host to plan that follow-up process. When students are placed in mentoring groups for a semester, they begin to apply leadership principles to their life. The event gains traction. The groups provide accountability, support and a laboratory to practice leadership skills with one another. Someone once said: “You can usually do less than you think you can in one week, but more than you think you can in one year.” I believe the same is true about events and process. Never underestimate the power of the process—it leads to healthy growth. You might say that process is like eating several good meals…along with your cotton candy.

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Changing Up Your Youth Ministry

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 12:43:12 +0000

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A recent trend in youth ministry has been to do new events every year as opposed to a traditional routine. In the past, many youth groups, for example, would have a fall kick-off event, a winter retreat at the same camp, a spring leadership conference at the same college and a similar high school summer mission trip. However, many youth pastors and youth directors, fresh out of Bible college or seminary, are striving to create, not only a new yearly calendar of events, but new events every year. Even though this “never do the same event again” model helps students get more diverse experiences, it comes with many flaws.

Fresh youth pastors and directors ought to be sensitive to the culture of the churches they are serving. Many students look forward to the same events year after year. The routine gives them a sense of belonging and stability (which they may not have at home, but that is another topic). Upperclassmen, who have been on mission trips in the past, have more opportunities to lead when they know what to expect.

At the same time, doing routine events fortifies parent trust in the church. When they are already familiar with what happened last year, they are more likely to trust the youth worker to take their kids again. It is also important for youth workers to be mindful of the costs for both the church and families for students to attend events. New events should not drastically shift the budget.

Overall, youth pastors and directors should seek a balanced approach. If they are dissatisfied with the current calendar or sense a longing from the church community to do new things, they should move forward carefully. For a brand new youth pastor, it is essential for them to spend a year putting their energy into learning about the church. Thus, they should probably keep the same calendar from the previous year as they establish their own credibility and nurture relationships. From there, they may consider tweaking one event per year. It is about balancing a sense of routine with experiences that will engage the students’ hearts and minds as culture changes.

Ultimately, the pinnacle of youth ministry is Christ. All the events should be centered on glorifying him through activities and teachings. If you are a youth pastor and find yourself thinking about times when you can brag about your new events, you may need to check yourself. Are you seeking God in your decisions? Are you planning events that are best for the students? Or are you coordinating events that will sound cool to boost your ego? No matter what, keep Christ the center of your ministry.

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He Delights in Using Young People

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 14:06:54 +0000

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“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke.” Joel 2:28-29

Sometimes we forget I’m not old enough to rent a van…or drive a rental van, for that matter.

I started leading a youth group at the age of 19. Being just months older than a handful of my students was daunting at best, terrifying at worst. For every time a student questioned my authority, I questioned my own authority five times. I really did not have a clue, and now in my second year of youth ministry, I can confidently assert that I still have absolutely no clue how this came to pass in my life.

I’m still a baby in the faith, honestly. I made the commitment to serve God with my life five years ago this summer, and though I am a theology student at a brilliant private college, I find each day I have more questions about who God is and what he is doing than I did before I started.

My church is made up of young leadership. We have a young pastor, a young worship leader and a young youth leader. This has its negative aspects, for sure, but there are certainly some amazing positives.

I often feel like I have an incredible advantage because of my youth. The insider perspective I have on youth culture helps me to have grace for the students’ situations, however large or small they may be. This gives me grace to be an advocate for them, an advocate to their parents and an advocate before the throne of Jesus to intercede for them. This is a responsibility I do not take lightly.

I love to watch my students grow. I love to grow with them. I love that we are all new to this “follower of Jesus” thing and I love that we are asking the same questions. I love that we are asking different questions.

I love that Jesus delights in using young people, as messy, confused and fallible as we are. I love that his Spirit is poured out on all of us, men, women, young and old – he holds nothing back in his outpouring of revelation. I love that he is raising up a new generation of leaders, and that, for some crazy reason, he decided to give me a front row seat to the most beautiful journey I could ever imagine.

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Review: Youth Ministry in a Post-Christian World

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 01 Mar 2016 21:02:18 +0000

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The following is a post written by Eric Woods on EricDWoods.com.

I finished this book on an 8-hour drive, alone in the car. And although it was my Kindle reading out loud to me with its robotic, text-to-speech voice, I felt as if Brock himself was in the seat next to me, telling his own story. And that’s what this book is: it’s Brock’s own story. It’s how he came to the realization that youth ministry today had to look different than it did twenty years ago.

This is, without a doubt the best book on youth ministry I’ve read in over a decade.

And, while this is not a how-to manual for ministry in this new world, you simply can’t read this book without stopping to rethink your own approach to the students you love and serve. In fact, I think that’s his goal. He says, “The world needs great youth workers who will teach students how to think, not spoon-feed them what to think.” And so he models it for us in the pages of this book, not so much telling us what to do in response, but inviting us to rethink it together.

One warning: if you’re still like the guy Brock heard on the radio who said, “When I was a youth pastor in the ‘80s, we just taught the Bible and that was enough,” this book may offend you. And that just might be a good thing.

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What Our Music Reveals About Us

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 19:26:19 +0000

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The following was originally posted by Tim Elmore of Growing Leaders. To view the original post, click here.

I just read an interesting case study on the way music has evolved over the last fifty years. You know, from genres like classic Rock and Roll, to Blues, to Disco, to Grunge and Funk, to Rap and Hip Hop—and ranging from Boy Bands to solo artists. The numbers were very interesting to analyze. The rise of female artists, the move from bands to solo artists and the expansion of profanity in lyrics all seem to relay how society is changing.

There are a few highlights I thought you’d find intriguing.

Healthy Changes

Increase in female artists.
Increase in collaboration between artists.
Increase in diversity among artists.
Increase in mixed generations within artist groups.

Unhealthy Changes

Increase in lyrics about loneliness.
Increase in songs about violence and substance abuse.
Increase in profanity and sexual perversion.
Increase in songs about lust over love.

But there is one discovery I noted that is worth talking about here.

The tangible rise in the word “I” or “I’m.” We’re singing more and more about “me.” Between 2005 and 2015, “I’m” was the number one term in song lyrics. In fact, not long ago, I flipped through stations on my car radio for a few minutes on my drive to an appointment. It may not surprise you that the four songs I heard were:

“Because I’m Awesome!”
“The World Should Revolve Around Me”
“Tell Me I’m Pretty”
“Don’tcha Wish Your Girlfriend Was Hot Like Me?”

Please forgive me if you feel I’m over-speaking. I’m not trying to turn all of life into a lesson or the world into a classroom. But I believe this shift is a commentary on our culture. I’ve written before that we live in a time of self-expansion. When I play sports, I am not as concerned about the team this year as I am about my own playing time. (After all, I am playing for scouts.) When I perform on a theatre stage, I’m counting my lines in the script more than paying attention to the plot as a whole. When on the job, I’m obsessed with getting noticed or being recognized; I’m building my personal brand. In life, I am about building my platform: my followers, likes, shares and views. When it comes to music, I’m obsessed with me. In the report, I identified that while musicians were collaborating more these days, there are fewer bands. In other words, artists are singing solo, but will do a “gig” or a group collaboration with other performers as long as they don’t lose their individual identities as solo artists.

In fact, while fifty years of music has always included themes like love, partying, sex and loneliness, 2015 produced a whole new category: “being awesome.” Never before has there been so much sung about me being so awesome.

What Signals Genuine Maturity

When I step back and evaluate what this says about the society we live in, I wonder if it informs us about how we’re failing to help kids mature. My short summary of what I believe about human maturation can be boiled down this way.

Maturity is generally about two feats:

Discovering who I really am.
Getting over myself.

As we educate and equip students, we must help them accomplish both of these feats. They must identify their strengths, their personality, their interests and passions. Once they do, however, we must help them see that life is about playing a role in a larger community—and fitting into a bigger picture. When I left for college at 18, my parents had done both. I knew I was loved and I recognized my gifts and value. Just as clear, however, was the fact that life wasn’t about me. There were thousands of other “special” kids at my college. I had to learn to play the cards in my hand and leverage them to solve the problems in front of me. My career choice was not just about “what I liked” or what “paid well,” it was about meeting a need in the community in which I found myself.

The four common categories we measure for maturity are:

Biological
Cognitive
Social
Emotional

In each category, we must help adolescents and young adults get over themselves.

* Biological—to use their bodies for the good of others, not merely for personal pleasure. They must harness their physical prowess and energy to serve people.

* Cognitive—to learn and to engage their minds to solve problems. To develop the mental discipline to handle complex challenges that will help the larger community.

* Social—to cultivate interpersonal skills to connect with the needs of others, not just my own. They must cultivate relationships in order to contribute to others.

* Emotional—to become emotionally intelligent, so that I empathize with others and add value to them. This skill separates us from the automation of technology.

When Dwight Eisenhower was ten years old, his older brothers were permitted to go out trick-or-treating on Halloween. (It was a more adventurous activity than it is today). When young Dwight asked if he could go, his parents told him he was too young. He pleaded with them, watched his brothers leave, then went into a fit of uncontrollable rage. He screamed and yelled and beat his fists against an apple tree in their front yard. His father disciplined him and sent him to bed. It was a night he’d never forget. After sobbing in his pillow for a while, his mother entered his room and sat quietly beside his bed. After he grew quiet, she spoke a Proverb softly to him: “He that conquers his own soul is greater than he who takes a city.”

As she began to bandage his hands, she told her son to beware of his anger and hatred inside. Of all her sons, he had the most to learn about mastering himself.

For Ike that night was a turning point: “I have always looked back on that conversation as one of the most valuable moments of my life,” he said. The concept of “conquering his own soul” became a significant one in his leadership in both the military and his presidency. It’s the acid test of growing up.

Let’s get beyond ourselves and help our students do the same.

– See more at: http://growingleaders.com/blog/music-reveals-us/#sthash.IcWftlfj.dpuf

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From “I want…” to “I Want to Be…”

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 15:14:58 +0000

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I want…

So often after the words “I want” I describe the tangible and material. After all, “want” implies that it’s not needed for survival and simply aids in comfort or convenience.

Especially after the holiday season, I’m aware of all the things I wanted but didn’t really need. After all, I did want that Red Ryder BB gun and I did want several pieces of pumpkin pie.

I want to be…

The greater desire of our hearts seeking Christ is to be transformed. We desire character change – no exchange. His for mine. It’s not I that live anymore, but Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20). I want my life to be less of me and more of him.

As that (sanctification) happens, we glimpse the place where his thoughts are higher than our thoughts and his ways are different than our ways.

In everyday life we can see these God sightings in stark contrast to what is typical. For instance, …

A man walking to his car saw a young boy hanging around it. Suspicious of the boy, the man growled, “What are you doing?”

“Studying this car,” the boy replied.

Yeah, sure the man thought. So, he began to quiz the boy. “What kind of car is it?” he asked.

“A ’99 Mercedes Benz,” the boy said.

“What color” the man asked. “Metallic burgundy,” said the boy.

After a few more questions, the man realized the little guy knew his stuff and they began to chat. The boy asked how much he paid for the car. The man replied, “Nothing. I had a need, and my brother gave it to me.”

The boy started to say, “Man! I wish I…”

“You wish you had a brother like that?” the man interrupted.

“No.” said the boy. “I wish I could be a brother like that.” (From Daniel Rickerts book, Building Healthy Relationships)

I want to be like that.

To be a provider for others needs. To give of all that has been given to me. To be generous and kind.

It’s so obvious that my thirst for myself has left me wanting more (Rhett Walker Band, Come to the River.). I don’t want to want more of this stuff. I don’t want to want for more, earthly comfort, because it doesn’t bring true joy.

I want more of him and less of me. I want to be a brother like that.

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Don’t Eat the Last Twinky

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 20:33:47 +0000

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The following post is from How to Plan a Mission Trip. To view the original post, click here.

For years, I have invited long term missionaries to the trainings I do with short termers. One story in particular stood out… the missionary recounted how the remoteness of their field left little room for luxury. Each time they returned to the USA, they brought back a package of Twinkies for the freezer. On a family member’s birthday, they pulled one out… put a candle in it… and sang Happy Birthday.

One summer, a short term team came. The missionaries offered the typical “mi casa es su casa” to the team but were horrified a few days later when one of their children ran in blurting through tears “They ate the WHOLE Twinkies package!”

Undoubtedly, the short term missionary was hungry for a late night snack, walked to the fridge and said to a teammate “Dude, they have Twinkies in here! Want one?” One simple act of inconsideration obliterated a year’s stash of birthday hope.

Short term missions can easily deflate, discourage and undermine the work of a long term missionary. How do you make sure that your team does the opposite on your visit? Here are a few principles to follow.

1. Go as a servant rather than a consumer. Ask short term participants to discuss how they would want a guest to behave in their own home. Then ask them to apply these thoughts to their stay as a guest with the missionary.

2. Let the missionary set the pace. Sometimes a short term missionary attempts to help by being proactive and creates more work for the host. Show your willingness to help, but let the missionary tell you what to do, how much and when.

3. Remember, they may want something different. It may be that help with the dishes is far less important than the enjoyment of carrying on a full conversation in English. Missionaries have physical and emotional needs that result from their location and service. Be sensitive to these needs and try to meet them, even if they are not so obvious at first glance.

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What Teens Need

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 17:02:33 +0000

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by Amanda Roozeboom

The following is an excerpt from our Winter 2016 magazine. To view the whole magazine, click here.

There is a lot of discussion regarding the “Needs of Adolescence”. Most scholars agree that teens need: love, security, community, purpose, creative expression, achievement, structure/clear limits, self-definition and confidence/self-worth. Chap Clark summarizes it this way, “Teens need Identity, (Who am I), Autonomy (Do my choices matter) Belonging (Where do I fit)”.

I would add teens need a faith that lasts beyond high school! In Kenda Creasy Dean’s book, Almost Christian, her research found that teens with “consequential faith”, faith that lasted beyond high school, had four characteristics: a God-Story, Community, Calling (purpose) and Hope.

Teens need a God-Story. Dean describes teens that have a “God Story” as; “Christian teenagers who referred to their faith frequently, interpreted their lives in religious terms, or grasped their faith traditions’ primary teachings also had a ready religious vocabulary at their disposal.” There is power in testimony. Kids will speak as we speak! Youth workers need to make sure that we are equipping our teens for life-long faith by passing down a clear and vibrant faith vocabulary.

Teens need a Community. Teens will find community in parties, in school activities, in sports, in online gaming communities, etc. As youth workers, we need to make sure our teens are also finding community in our sanctuaries during Sunday worship, in our main youth group sessions, on service/mission trips and in youth convention experiences.

Teens need a Calling (purpose). They need a place where they can contribute, a place where their voice matters. Youth workers therefore need to be advocates for our teens. We need to give them opportunities to lead prayers on Sundays, help make a committee decision or choose the color of the youth room walls! I love the part in C S Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe when young Lucy asks the Beaver if the godlike figure Aslan is safe, “Safe? Said Mr. Beaver…Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he is good. He is the King, I tell you.” Let’s strive to give teens a calling worthy of the King!

Finally, teens need Hope. Young people look to adults for meaning and hope. They need us to model a theology marked by patience, determination and humility as we face challenging research that causes us to question who we thought we were. This world needs adults who model hope as Kierkegaard described hope – “leaping in expectation”. Do we joyfully “leap to faith” not because we are faithful, or our ministries are faithful – but because our God is faithful?

Our teens have many needs. It is our job, as adults, to actively engage in fulfilling their need for a life-long faith. Join me in striving to give our teens God-Stories, Community, Calling and Hope.

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TV and Kingdom Work

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 16:23:49 +0000

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by Barry Ruiter, Youth Unlimited Account/Business Manager

The following is an excerpt from our Winter 2016 Magazine. To view the whole magazine, click here.

I admit to often watching television shows that feature buyers looking for a fixer upper home to renovate, programs that chop, cut and rebuild cars, or even the show where a specialty builder constructs treehouses for clients. I generally like shows that renovate and restore. In watching these types of shows, I’m reminded of my role and yours in the Kingdom, and specifically how it relates to Youth Unlimited.

For Youth Unlimited, I have a very much “behind the scenes” role. I pay bills, make deposits and generally put the dot on the “i” and the cross on the “t”. I am quite removed from the ministry work that happens when Youth Unlimited holds or arranges their events and yet, I am an important cog, as are you, in the Kingdom work that flows from this building.

Let me take you back to the TV theme to explore that thought. On a show called The Guild, cars are routinely rescued from slow erosion at the hands of rust and moth. In a twist, a recent episode revolved around an antique toy car, about the size of a shoebox. Besides the intrigue of assigning this “miniature” work to mechanics used to working on full size cars, there was the challenge of finding or creating parts. One such part was a small brass internal gear that was stripped and unusable. The mechanic scratched his head several times and remarked that he wasn’t a “watchmaker”, but in the end, he hand filed a brass rod down into a working gear. The payoff came when the owner of the car received a restored car that looked good and was functioning exactly as it intended.

I help Youth Unlimited function as intended by virtue of being a little, but important, internal gear. If you are reading this, then you should also know that you play some role in helping the functionality as well. Imagine if the miniature car were presented to the owner, but was missing one wheel. What if it was repainted, but the rear window had a big crack or was missing.

As I think of how I support the work of a Serve project, I think too of how it requires teens willing to put hand to shovel. I think of how it requires volunteers and host churches and I think of how it requires finances. There are many cogs, parts and pieces that make up a functional ministry, one that lives up to the owner’s specs. The staff at Youth Unlimited, you and I are a “Guild” of a different sort. We are craftsman charged with completing the King’s ultimate restoration project. I’m praying that we function exactly as intended.

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Finding the Missing Link at Live It

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 14 Dec 2015 15:32:41 +0000

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by Tony Butler

Spring Antioch Baptist Church

The following is an excerpt from our Winter 2016 Magazine. To view the whole magazine, click here.

Our mission at Spring Antioch Baptist Church is to help our youth grow into what God wants them to be. We desire for them to first know who God is for themselves. But we also want to show them how to experience God in their everyday lives. Our lessons and our activities are geared to help them see God for who he is.

Through an organization called the Old Town Spring Heights Task Force, which is made up of churches of different faiths, backgrounds and cultures, we met Brandon Bajema of the New life Christian Reformed Church. He told us of an organization called Youth Unlimited that had ministry geared towards growing youth in Christ. At first, I was really skeptical because we had been to conferences before and left them with nothing and felt robbed, but Brandon was persistent in getting our youth to Live It. Eventually, my pastor and I decided it would be a good thing for our youth. We registered and waited in anticipation.

All along the way from Houston to Chicago on our trip to Live It, I looked at the kids and wondered if they will get something from this experience. Would they be challenged to grow on their level of understanding? Would they be ready for such a radical introduction to something this new to them? All kinds of questions ran through my mind, but I realized that it was more of an issue for me than it was for them.

After two days of travel, we arrived at Live It and immediately felt God’s presence. As we exited the van our kids began introducing themselves to every youth in sight. My wife, Vanessa, and I sat back and simply marveled in what we saw. This was just the beginning of what was to come. As we registered, it began to sink in as the spirit of excellence in which Youth Unlimited operated in began to shine through. If there was a problem, it was handled with a smile and heart felt action. My wife and I were blown away yet again.

I’ll be honest; the first night of worship was a little awkward for our youth. They had never had worship that was so free and it took a little getting used to but they caught on. By the end of the service they had their hands raised and were giving praise. This was another milestone accomplished and the bar was set.

The next day was track time. Myself, my wife and two of our youth took the leadership track. We also had one youth in the service track, one in the arts track and two in the athletics track. The leadership track took my mind to another level on the first day. Our teacher and her staff gave us what I didn’t expect. I expected to get a lesson about following certain steps to become a good leader, but we spent the week learning to get ourselves in order, so that we can be effective. Our teacher’s transparency and candor were refreshing. She showed us that you have to be genuine because youth will sniff out a fake in a minute. We were encouraged to learn to spend more time alone with God in order to hear what he has to say for us to do. It was sad to see the end of an experience like this draw near. A class like this has never touched me before. My wife Vanessa was encouraged beyond belief. The two youth, Tony Jr. and Jeremy that were in class with us were changed and I saw the change in them. It was truly awesome.

One of our youth, Michael, who took the arts track, could not believe his experience. He was challenged to stop holding back on his singing for God. He was shy before the class but his newfound confidence changed that.

One of our youth, Leon, who took the service track, had an eye-opening experience. He was shy and really didn’t talk to people he didn’t know. However, from working and reaching out while on work sites, he was changed. He now meets no stranger and is ready for whatever comes his way.

The last two of our youth we brought, Da’Vean and Jade, both took the athletics track. They were not expecting to be challenged in something they were good at, but the challenge was not physical, it was spiritual. It made them see, as believers, there is more to everything we do than what we see.

The biggest plus of the whole experience was the beautiful people we met and still have contact with. The kids made friends they still chat and text with. It was absolutely wonderful to see so many different denominations and ethnic backgrounds coming from different places in Canada and the United States loving God together. We were touched in ways that just blew our minds.

Live it proved it was not just another conference, but a life changing experience. It helps to get you and your youth’s focus towards Jesus, where it should be, which I’ve felt is the missing link in many conferences I have been to. They point to heaven, but not to Christ. I will guarantee that our youth will be attending more Youth Unlimited events because this experience has made a great difference in their lives.

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Trendy Teens (Part 2 of 2)

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 14:14:22 +0000

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Continued from last week’s Trendy Teens (Part 1 of 2):

Another key way to engage with students is to control our atmosphere! While none of us can always control every situation and decision our teens make, we can control the atmosphere in our homes and church youth groups, and atmosphere is everything!

In Jim Burns book, Teen-ology he says; “While no home is perfect, and you will experience conflict with your teens – Here’s the deal: I don’t think we should solely blame our kids for the chaos in the home. Their “job” as teenagers is bound to cause some chaos and conflict. They are experimenting with behaviors, challenging authority, and generally doing things to mess up any positive atmosphere around them. Your job in the home is to set a tone and atmosphere that is more conductive to a better environment in the family. (It’s not going to be easy). If your family is living at too fast of a pace, or if your own life is filled with chaos and conflict, don’t expect your teens to set a positive atmosphere in your home. And don’t expect communication to be all that good either. It’s back to the intentional parenting of teens by staying calm, working a plan, and getting as emotionally healthy as YOU possibly can. To set a better atmosphere you will need to 1) be intentional 2) sometimes have to decide when certain behaviors and choices are just not worth a battle. (If your children see you as constantly nagging or criticizing them, don’t expect them to enjoy hanging out with you).”

Research is still showing that parents are the biggest influence in their teen’s life. Parents have the opportunity to make the biggest impact in their teen’s decisions. While we as adults can’t always control the decisions teens make regarding drug use, sex and friend choices, we can control the way we engage with the culture around us. We have power, through the Holy Spirit, to help our teens to be rooted and established in love, and not rooted in the popular trends all around them. It is messy work, but our teens are too important to ignore. Engage in their world and remind them of “real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of”.

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Trendy Teens (Part 1 of 2)

ThereforeGo Ministries — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 14:07:05 +0000

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Looking back on the trendy fashion, music and entertainment from the 60’s and beyond, one common thread remains; it was the teens that were the “trend-setters.” If we look at the current trends in music, technology and entertainment, it is teens that are still influencing trends today. Therefore, as loving, caring, faith-filled adults, how should we respond to cultural trends from a Christian perspective?

Let’s first look at how Jesus interacted with and responded to culture. I love the way Brian Housman describes the way Jesus interacted with the culture around him in his book Engaging Your Teen’s World. He writes, “Jesus came to heal and renew what sin has infected – by revelation and instruction he (Jesus) reattaches the soul to God the source of its being and goodness and restores it to the right order of love.” Notice those verbs; Renew, Reattaches, Restores. He doesn’t ignore, or respond in panic or fear.

Unlike Jesus, our first response is too often to reject or ignore tough questions and hard battles. However the best way to deal with issues of culture (music, tech, entertainment) is to engage!

Look at the story in John 10:6-10 where Jesus is the Good Shepherd. The Message says it like this; Jesus told this simple story, but they (the disciples) had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.”

“Will freely go in and out”—Notice Jesus doesn’t lock up the sheep. Dead bolt the gate shut! Keep the sheep completely sheltered, in hiding. John Rosemond, that man who coined the phrase “helicopter parent” says this; “Too many parents are ultimately carrying the burdens of their teen’s problems on their own shoulders. No teen will become a responsible adult if their parents carry the load for them. It’s not healthy for either party!”

So then, how do we engage without taking on our kid’s burdens? Whatever you do, don’t stay silent. Silence will often lead teens to jump to feeling of shame! Things so terrible we dare not mention them. When we try to engage, too often we ask simple (yes or no) questions. Then we’re surprised or disappointed when all we get is a simple yes/no/fine answer. Instead, begin your questions with phrases such as, “What do you think about…” or “How do you feel about…” These are open-ended questions, and can be quite helpful. Try them. They work!

To be continued…

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Why Short-Term Missions?

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 18:43:10 +0000

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Why bother going on a short-term mission? Every year when it comes time to start planning and thinking about Serve I am met with questions from people like, “Is it really necessary?” It’s a valid question when you consider the needs in our own cities and congregations and how much we spend on Serve. A typical week long mission for 10 youth who go within driving distance can cost around $12,000. Yes, there is need all around and yes, it is really necessary to send youth on a short-term mission. Ignoring the studies that suggest 80% of adults who remain in the church had a mission experience as a youth, short-term mission is not actually about the labour. Yes, the work we do is a significant part of the week, but short-term mission is about living discipleship. What I mean by this is- Serve is about giving youth (and adults) a real life understanding of what it means to be a disciple.

For one week, they leave their homes and routine, they take the bare minimum, travel a distance with other people, hear messages that pertain to their relationship with Christ and their mission and they go into the community and spread that message. They have to surrender their worldly possessions (mostly iPods and cell phones) and focus on relationship with themselves, each other and God. For one week, they let go of their inhibitions and immerse themselves in faith. I’ve watched youth dance in pews, run around the sanctuary during praise songs and reflect emotionally on the message. During the week, they serve their visiting community- but they don’t just ‘work’, they are disciples. They hear the stories of the people, they pray with people and they talk about faith with people. Around meals they enjoy fellowship with each other and discover more about themselves and develop meaningful relationships with people who, hours or days earlier, were complete strangers. Youth who are shy are suddenly talking non-stop, and youth who are normally very talkative are suddenly listening. Youth begin to realize that they are capable of so much more than they imagined. But most importantly- youth begin to understand what it means to be a disciple and to live a life with a servant’s heart.

The Serve experience is something that will forever change how they view their faith and how they read their Bible. Years later, and serving now as an adult leader, I can testify that short-term mission will not be forgotten by youth. They may veer off course as they navigate through teenage years, but their Serve experience becomes part of them; although, sometimes they need to be reminded- which is why it’s also beneficial for youth to go on multiple mission trips. No two experiences will ever be the same.

So why bother going on a short-term mission? The shortest answer being- if you spend time bringing people to Christ, you’re not wasting your time.

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Current Youth Ministry Curriculum Resources

Ron deVries — Fri, 09 Oct 2015 15:03:03 +0000

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The following is a reflection on the Youth Leaders’ Top Teaching & Curriculum Resources by Ron deVries, Koenraad Beugelink and Karen De Boer. To listen to the full online training, click here.

In my role as a Youth Ministry Consultant in Classis Alberta north and as a co leader for the CRC’s Canadian Youth Ministry pilot, many churches have asked for support. Questions like, “how should I do this” or where can I find this?” have often crossed my desk.

Curriculum is one of the things that youth leaders look for.

A few of the most popular resources we found that churches have had success with are the following;

Sticky faith. This curriculum was created in response to longitudinal research based findings exploring a cohort of youth who were committed youth group participants-50% of whom wander away from the life of faith. There are resources for parents, youth leaders and church leaders as well as materials aimed at helping grade 12’s transition into University/work life, and materials that tackle the tough questions this generation is asking of the church, and a healthy approach to social justice. It is a holistic response to meeting the needs for today’s youth.

Spark House resources. At Spark house, they are creating a whole new class of faith formation resources created for today’s Christians. They meet people where they are: using technology, language, and active learning concepts that match our 21stcentury lifestyles. Every day they strive to make creativity, collaboration, and even humor synonymous with thought provoking, Bible-based learning.

Faith Alive resources. This ministry offers many types of resources for all the ministries of your church. From DWELL, WE, HC and me, Questions from the Pickle Jar to the Elder Handbook, this place has you covered It is important to note that although these resources are wonderful “out of the Box” tools, I would encourage you to use the gifts God has given to you to add your own value and voice to what you teach when using these resources. These can be very good foundations to build on for your program teaching.

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A Look Back at Brighton Serve 2015

ThereforeGo Ministries — Sat, 29 Aug 2015 18:04:43 +0000

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The following is a reflection on Brighton Serve 2015 by Linda Jeronimus:

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you. Receive now the Holy Spirit.” John 20:21b

Our church responded “Here I am (we are) Lord.”

From prayer shawl makers, prayer partners, kitchen help, worksite volunteers, creative Gems, encouraging words, those who donated food and items needed to make our church home to 40 youth and leaders, to the sound and overhead booth experts, the clean up crews, the tech savvy, drivers, financial help, to the host team planners, what an amazing church response! Brighton Fellowship showed what Serve is all about! Our church family embraced the teams that came in and encouraged them to go out as we are called.

We sure did not do this alone. We thank Ajax Serve for letting us job shadow last summer. In February, a group of us attended Youth Unlimited’s Summit in Grand Rapids where ideas and encouragement were shared by all. (Thanks also to Alesha and Jerry for keeping us on track, you helped make our first year as a host team a very positive experience! Please know that you are an important part of our team!)

And now, we had a great week! Gord Park was our speaker for the week and our worship band was FMReset. Together they shared their gifts through words, thoughts and ideas, testimonies and music – inspiring!

During the days we worked at different homes in Brighton and Colborne through an organization called Community Care. Much of the work in Brighton was painting, yard work, some renovation work and light construction. We also had a chance to offer a free car wash with the Fire Department donating all the supplies needed. On Friday, we had a Food Bank Drive at No-Frills with many shoppers picking up groceries to fill up the van. The Food Bank sent us a thank you note for the large supply of food and money donated. Great job to the youth and leaders for helping feed the hungry!

One of our jobs was in the Frankford area, getting an old building ready to set up for a Community Partners for Success program. The building was nothing special to look at on Monday but by Friday there were fresh painted walls and a finished mural at the front entrance!

Another one of our jobs was the New Life Girls Home, a home for young women struggling with issues. A Serve team worked one day and were invited to come back and be treated to lunch the next!

We learned to be flexible. We had a really neat opportunity to be part of a community track event. We showered everyday at the local high school and for the first time the community was hosting a twilight track event with a steeplechase run. Some of our youth and leaders wanted to participate so…..everything got shifted 20 minutes and we all put on our Serve t-shirts and cheered our youth and leaders. It reminded me of running the race set before us with a “cloud of witnesses”!

Lives were changed and the Lord breathed his Spirit into all who were here. Youth and leaders shared how the Lord changed their hearts and made them stretch in ways they could not imagine.

Below are just a couple excerpts of some of the notes we received:

From Heather – “What a wonderful service you have initiated to show God’s love in the community. I have been blessed by the wonderful people who have worked diligently to fix up my home. I am more grateful to them and all the people at your church who have contributed to this wonderful service to God and the communities you have helped.” Heather gave all the youth at her place little gifts, it felt like Christmas! She has no money and still gave gifts and a donation to us for next year.

From Alice – “To everyone, I had a wonderful time with all the young people also the leader Eric, it was a wonderful day. I got all my windows nice and clean.” (Alice has come to church every Sunday since.) One of the youth sent a beautiful letter to her prayer partner, an elderly lady and one of the youth also sent a beautiful letter to Alice. Both these women are sharing the letters with others to read!

We also received a thank you from John, a youth leader from Flint, Michigan who has no support from his church. Two of his youth committed their hearts to the Lord during Serve and John was overwhelmed. He told me I had to tell our church that he was truly encouraged by the love and support of our congregation and said, “This church is Spirit filled – it is so obvious.” He told us he was going back encouraged to continue to work with the youth and share the good news of Jesus!

I can go on and on, we were so blessed and we thank the Lord that others were blessed through us.

God has an amazing way of using our plans to change hearts. It was all in his plan from the beginning. We were overwhelmed.

Thanks to the Lord for all He has done!

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Why Young Athletes Lack Grit and How to Build It

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 12:41:59 +0000

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The following is a post by Tim Elmore of Growing Leaders. As you read it, consider what we can learn about our faith formation from these insights on the next generation. To view the original post, click here.

I recently spoke to a hitting coach for a professional baseball team. He told me how he’d tried to help a 19-year-old minor leaguer change his swing. After trying his suggestion three times, the player tossed down the bat saying, “It doesn’t work.”

The hitting coach replied, “But you gave it just three swings.”

“I know, and it doesn’t work,” retorted the frustrated player.

“But it’s gonna take you three thousand swings to get it right!” the coach exclaimed.

Such is the new dialogue coaches are having with today’s new breed of athlete. These players are not stupid or slow or untalented — they’ve just grown up in a world where they often get what they want with a quick click. A Google search. A single step.

In this world, it’s challenging to get young athletes to love the process. You know what I mean, don’t you? Excelling in any sport means you commit to a grueling process of preparation and habit. It’s not glitzy or glamorous, and few fans are likely watching. This is difficult for a generation of gifted athletes, where so much has come quickly and easily. To make matters worse, the media conditions them with constant pings on their smart phone, causing dopamine spikes in their systems. Consider today’s media:

We live in a day of one-minute highlight reels on SportsCenter. We watch Lebron James or Peyton Manning dunk shots and pass for touchdowns but never watch them put in the hours that enabled them to achieve such feats.

We live in a day of Instagram, Snapchat, microwave ovens, fast food, ATMs and high-speed Internet access. We don’t have to wait on too much or get too bored.

We live in a day of “before” and “after” photos — where people have lost weight or gotten toned or won prizes — but we only see the half-minute commercials. No details.

In 2000, adolescent attention spans were 12 seconds. Today, they are 6-8 seconds. They have dropped almost in half. While it’s not hard to capture your athlete’s attention, it is very hard to keeptheir attention. Is it any wonder why coaches or trainers must work so tenaciously to get them to stay in the conditioning process between games?

The Generation iY SCENE

Let me summarize the challenge in two columns below. The left side captures the world (the SCENE) we’ve created thanks to technology and parenting styles. The right side, however, reminds us of the unintended consequences of that scene:

Their World is Full of:	Consequently, They Can Assume:
S – Speed	Slow is bad.
C – Convenience	Hard is bad.
E – Entertainment	Boring is bad.
N – Nurture	Risk is bad.
E – Entitlement	Labor is bad.

How Do We Help Them Embrace the Process?

Consider this analogy. In many ways, the slow, boring and challenging process athletes must experience can be compared to the Bonsai Tree. Do you remember how it grows? Bonsai trees are beautiful to look at, but they require lots of care and shaping in order to attain that beauty. In the year 970, the Japanese book The Tale of the Hollow Tree included this passage: “A tree that’s left growing in its natural state is a crude thing. It is only when it is kept close to human beings who fashion it with loving care that its shape and style acquire the ability to move onward and grow well.”

What’s most intriguing to me is that many types of Bonsai trees grow roots as deeply as possible before showing any visible signs of growth. In other words, at first the growth is below the surface, so that the tree can establish its foundation before shooting up and out with beautiful branches and leaves. The growth is invisible for months, but then this incredible tree shoots up and outward visibly. Roots come first, then come branches.

This is a picture of the process. It’s often invisible at first — you have to learn to trust the process, or you’ll give up. It’s hard to engage in a process when we don’t see results, as we want a payoff. Below are six steps athletes can take to begin to embrace the process.

Six Steps to Engage in the Process:

Set Micro Goals.

These are simply a set of smaller goals that are reachable each day or each week. They allow athletes to put “wins” under their belt quickly and spur them on to larger goals.

Do something slightly different every 6 seconds.

During practice, re-arrange segments where athletes literally do something different every six seconds—about their attention span. Once these speed drills are complete, lengthen them.

Focus on mini decisions and mini steps.

This is a second cousin to step one. Instruct athletes to make mini-decisions that lead to a maxi-decision. This helps them take small but incremental steps toward a larger goal.

Simulate the “event” in practice regularly.

Because the “event” (the competition) is why most athletes join the team, take time to simulate (or create) game moments and debrief them. Both experience and reflection are key.

Celebrate any and all visible progress.

One reason the process is hard is that we only celebrate the “game,” not the practice. Try celebrating any measurable progress, with tangible rewards and affirmation.

Lose the “lottery mindset” and see discipline as a bridge.

If needed, constantly re-calibrate their minds. Help them to ditch the “lottery” mindset that believes they’ll “fall into greatness overnight.” Discipline is like a bridge, taking them from where they are to where they want to be. No matter where they want to go, they’ll likely have to cross the bridge called “discipline.” (This is one of our Habitudes®.)

When athletes love the process, they carry no illusions about life, glitz or fanfare. In his book, Empire of Illusion, Chris Hedges writes, “Wounded marines booed and hissed John Wayne when he visited them in a hospital ward in Hawaii during the Second World War. Wayne, who never served in the military and, for the visit, wore a fancy cowboy outfit that included spurs and pistols, would later star in the 1949 gung-ho war movie The Sands of Iwo Jima. The marines, some of whom had fought in Iwo Jima, grasped the manipulation and deceit of the celebrity culture. They understood that mass culture contributes to self-delusion…”

These marines understood what life is really about versus what’s merely a façade. They understood what true grit is. Great people—great athletes—learn to LOVE the process, to embrace and enjoy it. They trust the process will take them where they want to go.

Want to prepare athletes for excellence in sports and life? Check out Habitudes® for Athletes.

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Seven Changes that Affect Every Generation

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 19:12:06 +0000

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If you were born before 1980, I’m sure you’ve noticed an interesting trend: it seems that every generation of adults looks at the newest batch of kids and is sure they are the worst bunch of rebels our world has ever seen. Thousands of years ago, Socrates wrote of the misguided youth in Greece and was sure they were “good for nothing”. He actually wrote that kids in his day were:

Lazy
Disrespectful
Lacking in responsibility

Doesn’t that sound strangely familiar?

I’ve noticed something else as I’ve studied today’s newest batch of students, the ones I call Generation iY. (They’re the kids born since 1990 — the second half of Generation Y — that some sociologists believe are the first portion of Generation Z.) What I’ve noticed is that we adults, on some levels, are guilty of the same negative elements we point out in them.

With each generation, changes take place. There are patterns to be observed that leaders should take note of today. For instance, I have noticed…

With each new generation, time becomes more valuable.
With each new generation, expectations of convenience and service rise.
With each new generation, the demand for work to have meaning intensifies.
With each new generation, the hunger for options grows.
With each new generation, the sense of entitlement increases.
With each new generation, the need for speed and space goes up.
With each new generation, the desire for customization expands.

By knowing these realities, we can take a step forward in mentoring students. And let’s face it: the newest technologies (and the conveniences that come with them) affect all of us, not just the kids. This has always been true. When we were growing up, our parents, teachers and coaches often called uslazy slackers.

The key is to understand the current reality students face and ask: What life skills are they missing?Then, we must search out an activity to prescribe that will enable them to develop these timeless qualities they’ll need in life and in leadership. Sometimes the answer to both can be quite simple.

One Simple Secret a Mother and Her Daughter Discovered

For example, a couple of months ago, I posted a blog about how many in the emerging generation of students lacked ambition, discipline and, in fact, were moving back home after finishing school with no plan for the future. One woman replied and told me her daughter was a “case study” on what I had just written about. Her daughter often slept in late and had no passion for anything.

In the blog, I suggested we must introduce activities that will cultivate timeless virtues in young people—then watch what happens. I just received an update from this woman:

Months ago, I responded to your blog in respect to my 25-year old daughter who was sleeping until noon. After reading your blog today, I thought I’d share the hobby she has taken up that has really helped her: sewing. (Yes, you read that word correctly). It has many of the attributes that you mentioned about sports—you must slowly keep working on the process; you must keep learning and getting better. Each week, you can see progress on the specific project you’re working on when you sew. It requires much preparation and planning; it is a lot of tedious work; it usually includes mistakes that you must re-do. But the process pays off in the end. As a seamstress, you eventually get to see a finished product. My daughter is getting much enjoyment from sewing and has quit watching so much TV. She is also getting to bed earlier and getting up earlier. Thanks for your blogs. I gave her a Habitudes book as a graduation present this year.

A Diagnosis and a Prescription

Can you see what happened? All that this young adult needed was an exercise that would engage her. When she found it, her discipline, ambition, passion and emotional maturity began developing. It required more than an angry parent, more than a lecture, more than added house rules. It required a diagnosis and a prescription. Once again, we must ask ourselves:

What are the missing life skills in our young people?
What are some engaging activities that would build those life skills?

I have a “heads up” for you that might represent some good news.

In two months, we’ll be releasing an updated version of my book Generation iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future (5^th Anniversary Edition). The book contains current research and updated case studies on the newest students on your campus, at your workplace, on your team, or even in your home. I talk about these trends and what we can do about them as adults. I also include diagnoses and prescriptions for how we can better engage this emerging generation.

Let me ask you: Have you noticed these trends above? What have you done to build timeless qualities in students, athletes, young employees, or your own kids?

Find out how adults can equip young people to lead us into the future in our best-selling book Generation iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future.

Order Today

Generation iY helps adults:

Guide unprepared adolescents and at-risk kids to productive adulthood
Correct crippling parenting styles
Repair damage from (unintentional) lies we’ve told kids
Guide young people toward real success instead of superficial “self-esteem”
Adopt education strategies that engage (instead of bore) an “I” generation
Employ their strengths and work with their weaknesses on the job

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Earning the Right to be Heard by Students

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 13:16:59 +0000

The post Earning the Right to be Heard by Students appeared first on ThereforeGo Ministries.

The following is a piece from Growing Leaders, by Tim Elmore. To view the original post, click here.

Last year, the results of a Harris Poll were released on the subject of respect. In this first-of-its-kind survey, a Harris Poll asked 2,250 adults to compare their memories of “school dynamics” when they were students with today’s school dynamics. The percentage of respondents who agreed with the statement “students respect teachers” dropped from 79% to 31%. (Interestingly, the findings on students’ respect for teachers are nearly identical for adults who are parents of school-aged children and those who aren’t.) It was a huge drop. Still another big drop, however, was this: respondents’ views of the percentage of parents who respect teachers, which has plummeted from 91% to 49%.

Wow. Whatever happened to respect?

As I interact with both faculty and administrators, I commonly hear this complaint: kids and parents just don’t respect the school system anymore. This may sound like hyperbole, but it’s how so many educators feel. These statistics don’t surprise Arnold Fege, president of Public Advocacy for Kids, a Washington, D.C.-based group focused on education and child-advocacy policy. According to USA Today, he’s noticed “a lack of respect for public education over the years,” whether the issue is testing, teacher evaluations or school choice. “I think the community really feels that they’ve lost control of a large part of the institutions that are important to their life,” Fege says.

Forget the Badge for a Moment

So how does a teacher, staff member, coach or administrator get respect back, without resorting to force or leveraging their authority? Good question. Respect is a delicate quality that cannot be forced or feigned. It’s rarely real when it is demanded. It’s a matter of the heart. Generally, if you want the heart of a student—you have to earn it.

Some faculty might say, “Well, they should listen and respect me because I’m the teacher!” That’s absolutely true. Unfortunately, we live in a day where many children have never learned to respect those in authority, so we must build that respect in a different way. While your position may deserve it, simply demanding it tends to backfire. At best, you get behavior modification, but you don’t get genuinefollow-ship. Remember the obstinate kid who was told to sit down and be quiet in the back of the classroom? He insisted on standing up and talking. When the teacher finally got him to sit, he replied, “I may be sitting on the outside, but I’m still standing on the inside.”

This anecdote illustrates what I am talking about. If we really want more than mere behavior modification — if we want true respect — we must remember that it’s earned. May I suggest you forget your “badge” for a moment? Instead of demanding your students listen and submit, what if you earned the right to be followed?

Five Axioms I Practice to Gain Respect

The following statements are principles I embrace to gain respect from students:

Axiom One:
Youth do not have the innate need to get their way. They do have the innate need to be heard. We gain respect as a response to showing respect.

Axiom Two:
When we listen, we genuinely show respect for a student. We elicit transparency, and over time, a reciprocal response from them toward you.

Axiom Three:
When we ask questions, we authentically demonstrate we care. We gain credibility. They begin to believe us and take our leadership seriously.

Axiom Four:
When we do both of the above, we authentically earn the right to speak. Although our words may be no different than the past, students now listen.

Axiom Five:
When we ask for feedback, we once again encourage the same response from them. This builds bridges of relationship that can bear the weight of truth. Even hard truth.

Click to view an infographic

Jim Forleder is the principal of Lincoln High School in Walla Walla, Washington. When he took over, he heard the school was known for student detentions and suspensions. Disciplinary actions were high, as students frequently showed no respect for teachers. Jim decided he needed to try a new approach to discipline.

So the next time a student dropped an F-Bomb in class and was sent to his office for punishment, he tried the axioms above. He sat down with the teen offender, and instead of jumping into a recitation of how the student had violated school policy, he quietly sat for a moment, then leaned forward and looked into the eyes of the young man. Then, he gently spoke: “What just happened in that classroom doesn’t sound like you. You’re capable of better conduct than that. Is there something going on in your life that I don’t know about? Something at home with family, or in your personal relationships?”

Jim reported that most of the time, that’s all it took to begin a transparent conversation. In nearly every case, the offender would pause, then break down and talk about how his dad had just left… or how mom was suffering from drug abuse… or how his family couldn’t pay the rent… or how he’d just lost his brother in an accident. The floodgates opened, and Jim was able to address the real need. Along the way, he’d talk over the offense and the changes that needed to happen. Ironically, he said that it frequently wasn’t necessary. The majority of the time, the student would return to class and apologize, without being told to do so. School suspensions dropped 85% at Lincoln High School.

What’s our take away? Until our school systems figure out how to regain the respect of students, or until parents decide they’ll teach their children how to respect authority, let me suggest we forget trying to force it and begin trying to earn it.

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No Longer a Mission Trip – Just Life – The Other 51

ThereforeGo Ministries — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 15:29:11 +0000

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The following is an excerpt from the student’s devotions in our 2015 theme material at Live It and Serve this summer.

It was Friday of my mission week. That week was the first week I had ever sat with a homeless man. I took my tray and sat with him at that soup kitchen. That moment changed my life. That was Monday night. For the rest of the week, I jumped right in. During the day, we served at a drop-in for children who did not know if there was a place for them to sleep at night. There were children as young as five years old living outside at night. My heart was broken. God had ripped my heart in half with the injustice that thrived in North America. Daily, I became better friends with these children. They had so much life in them. One young boy could almost dunk a basketball and he was much shorter than my six-foot frame. We re-told Bible stories, sang worship songs, and ate meals together. I loved the life I was living that week, but it was now Friday. We were going to leave the next day.

At lunch, that Friday, our church family for the weekend hosted an outdoor picnic for the people in the neighbourhood. Picnic tables were set up in the church parking lot as the sun blazed down. Beverages in coolers full of ice and ham sandwiches were brought out from the kitchen. As with the rest of the week, we sat with our friends on the street. We did not serve them. That sets up a power play. If you serve someone, you are telling him/her you are higher up and have power. If you sit with someone, you are declaring that you are his/her friend. In sitting together, you can serve one another. The impoverished can serve the rich and the rich can serve the poor. We are one. I sat with three people I recognized from the week. We shared a few laughs about pro football teams. We talked about the church.

“They really love this community – do meals like this quite regularly…and they even sit with us!”

“Not every church does that,” another chimed in.

We finished up the meal, chatted a bit longer, and they got up to leave. Handshakes and hugs followed.

“I’ll be praying for you brother as you go home.” Thomas said as he walked away.

Pastor Steve was standing and watching. He and I had had a few talks during the week about why they do what they do. After my three friends left, I walked over to him.

“You see those three much?” I enquired.

“Two of them yes. Thomas disappears every now and then…” Steve started.

“Disappears?”

“He gets too close to us. It reminds him of too much of his past and he just disappears. Drugs sometimes. Another city sometimes. He’s back right now, and I think he likes you.”

I smiled and started to drift into reflection. I wanted this life so badly. I wanted to know Thomas, each of those five year olds, my friend with whom I studied Romans in the soup kitchen. God had broken my heart and wasn’t putting it back together. I wanted this life. Steve could sense something in my silence.

“So,” He caught my eyes. “How are you gonna bring this home?” Steve went on to say none of this mission week really mattered if it was just a week. If it just stayed a nice memory, it would remain like a fun holiday at best. But, if I took some of it home, to live out, maybe this would allow God to change me forever.

I did take it home. Within five months, I had to quit my job – I no longer fit. My heart wasn’t in it anymore. I began working on the streets. It is something I do to this day. I am a pastor of a small church in the downtown area of a North American city. My friends are people who live under bridges, in tents, and in houses with four car garages. I have learned a little about love along the way, a little about poverty and a lot about Jesus.

I liked the mission experience so much that I made it my life. My prayer is one day we will no longer call it a mission trip. We will just call it life.

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We All Need to Love – The Other 51

ThereforeGo Ministries — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 15:17:03 +0000

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The following is an excerpt from the student’s devotions in our 2015 theme material at Live It and Serve this summer.

Diane grew up in what others would consider a Christian home. Diane’s family; two older brothers, mom, dad and Diane, went to church every Sunday – twice, but some things were well hidden in that home. Diane was bullied since she was a young girl by one of her brothers. Her parents found out and made sure it was kept quiet. They just walked through the motions of life. Diane struggled in school socially. She had only a handful of friends and trusted no one. Called “shy” by her teachers, they never really noticed that Diane was withdrawing more each year. Just before her high school years came to a close, her brother sought forgiveness for his actions. He had come to realize the pain he caused his sister and family. He blamed it on being a kid, being stupid at the time, but more than that, he realized how deeply he needed it set right. Diane wasn’t ready to let go that easily.

After high school, Diane went to a small Christian college that specialized in teaching people to do overseas missions. Overseas was the dream for Diane – Africa, South America, somewhere warm and far away. She could escape her small town, serve the Jesus she had come to love in spite of all her pain, and follow the call she had heard on a week long mission project called Serve. That week of Serve changed her. For the first time ever, she had met people who lived in really poor conditions, and Diane did not just feel comfortable there, she felt called there. She decided she would find those people overseas. All she needed was a little bit of money first.

Diane, under the guidance of a friend, took a job working with impoverished folks in a large city in North America. Each day, she would walk with her co-workers among the most impoverished in her country. People survived by diving into dumpsters for food, begging on street corners and living in cardboard boxes under bridges. She came to know these people not as impoverished but as her friends. Each person she met had a story – a deep dark past, and none of her newly found friends could hide their pain. It was as obvious as their weather worn jackets. They couldn’t hide it if they tried. They had to be honest. In there, somewhere, Diane found the courage to be honest too. She began to share about her past, her brother, and her pain. It was refreshing and renewing. Among the lowest of the low, Diane met Jesus. In the homeless men and women, Diane was finally free to share, to be loved in spite of her past and to sense a healing that could not come after years of trying.

Her brother never expected a visit. She didn’t call first, but Diane hopped on the train and hoped he would be home. It wasn’t easy, but they talked. They opened up, and in the midst of tears, they found a way through forgiveness.

It’s not perfect yet. Diane still has some struggles with her past. It creeps in and echoes in ways that still hurt. To this day, however, Diane works on the streets in that same city. She never did go overseas. Missions are everywhere. Missions is life. She hangs out with the poor all the time. She buys lunch for some people and lets some of her friends buy her coffee. They have deep wonderful conversations, and together they find home. Christ is there with her. She meets him every day on the streets.

We don’t all need to go on the streets. Some of us are not called there, but we all need to love. We all need to live this Kingdom out every day. It is our mission. It is our life.

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His Daughters and Sons – The Other 51

ThereforeGo Ministries — Fri, 26 Jun 2015 15:01:06 +0000

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The following is an excerpt from the student’s devotions in our 2015 theme material at Live It and Serve this summer.

A few years ago, I was wandering through a mall in the city in which I work. I had finished a meeting with one of my friends from the street and was off to another meeting. This way through the mall was a short cut between streets. I was reflecting on the meeting I had just finished when I saw her at the other end of the hallway. To this day, I can’t describe her. I just know that I looked at her and shuddered, feeling like she was disgusting and unpleasant. I don’t even remember why. I didn’t know her. I knew nothing about her. Just her appearance disgusted me. Being a person who wants to follow God, I also knew my first reaction was wrong. I stopped walking, closed my eyes and whispered a quick prayer to God. “Help me see this woman the way you see this woman.” When I opened my eyes, for the briefest of seconds, in place of the woman, I saw my oldest son, and then I saw this woman again. God had answered my prayer. It was as if God had said this:

“You want to see how I see this woman? Look at her the way you look at your son. I love her that much and more! She is my daughter, not an object of disgust. She is my daughter and I love her very much. Treat her that way.”

Humbled, I sat and broke down. I no longer saw the woman. She was gone, but I have changed in my approach to others. I try (and this is hard sometimes) to see people as God sees them. They are his children. He loves them all very much. He wants the very best for each one, and my calling is to come so close to my God in worship, that I begin to see with God’s eyes, hurt with God’s heart and listen with God’s love.

I wonder if the disciples had a similar experience when the woman with 12 years of bleeding reached out to touch Jesus. The story is recounted in Mark 5:25-34. This woman would have felt quite disgusting. Her bleeding made her ceremonially unclean. In other words, she was not allowed to touch another person. If she had children, she could not hold them. If she had a husband, she could not kiss him. If she had parents, she could not receive a hug from them. Imagine that for a second. In desperation, that woman reached out to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. She felt the bleeding stop. Jesus called her out of the crowd to share God’s love with her. “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” He called her daughter.

That’s what worship does. We become like the one we worship and respond like they do. We see with their eyes. We hurt with their heart. We love with their love.

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From Amazing to Ordinary

ThereforeGo Ministries — Sun, 21 Jun 2015 20:39:53 +0000

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Many of our students and those of us in the youth ministry field spent time this summer on a service trip. These weeks are almost always amazing. After experiencing a week of living, serving, eating and worshiping together in Christian community, in true unity with God and others, we often discover that we want to live that way every day. When we get home, panic sets in, and we begin asking ourselves, “What now?” If you are asking that question, here are three things you can do…

Remember What God Has Done

When Moses would have encounters with God, he would come down from the mountain and his face would literally shine with the Glory of God. (Exodus 34:29-35). When we return from trips, camps, retreats, etc., our faces shine too, but eventually the shine fades. Here’s the challenge; don’t forget about what God has done. Don’t settle back into your old life before the shine. In the Old Testament there are many examples of people building an altar, not for worship, but to preserve a memory. These altars were usually just a pile of uncarved rocks, but they served as a reminder that God had been present in their lives, working for their good. (Exodus 17:15, Joshua 4, 1 Samuel 7:12). While random piles of rocks aren’t so practical today, you too can set out a reminder of what God has done in your life. Hang a picture on your wall, post a key scripture verse on your mirror or in your locker or keep a journal of gratitude or daily god-sightings.

Continue Building Relationships

Often what makes our service weeks so amazing is that all our focus is on maintaining a right relationship with God and a right relationships with others. After you return home from your mountain-top experience with God, continue to turn off your cell phone, fast from Social Media, read scripture and pray. Continue to talk to your friends and neighbors not just about sports, music and movies, but about the ways God is showing up in your life, teaching, shaping and encouraging you. Continue to step out of your comfort zone and say hello to a stranger! Continue the hard work of taking risks when you are home again.

Find Satisfaction in the Ordinary

We often look for God in the big moments of our lives, but God is involved in every moment of our lives, especially our ordinary moments. Scripture is filled with stories of people who daily focused on a personal commitment to God. Noah built an ark 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. (That’s one and a half football fields long and four stories high). That’s not a weekend project. That took faithfulness and obedience. Jeremiah, the prophet, ministered under five kings faithfully speaking warnings to the people of Judah for 40 years. Daniel and Esther, quietly and humbly served in king’s courts for years before their faithful commitment to God thrusted them into the spotlight.

Your students and you will quickly learn that living for God at home is messy. It’s hard and transformation doesn’t happen overnight. But remember, God is faithful: what he has done in the past, he can do in the present. God can make even your ordinary weeks amazing!

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Rebuilders of Almost Anything

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 19:17:09 +0000

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Are we, as the North American Church, living in sin by spending so much time trying to keep our kids moral and safe? Or are we equipping and mobilizing our youth to live for something that is worth Jesus dying for?

Youth/Family Pastor and Youth Unlimited Mission Director Jerry Meadows shares a journey through questions on how we help students live on mission for Christ everyday.

For a free E-book on teaching students about missional living, click here. To hear further conversation by church leaders on this topic and others including when pastors aren’t missional enough and moralistic therapeutic deism, click here or watch the video below.

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Go Do Something

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 14:04:21 +0000

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I was almost 20 years old when it came to me. I was not in church, youth group or doing any “holy” activity. I was sitting in my Jeep Cherokee outside of the garage where I worked, looking at a tall brick building with chipped paint and a flock of noisy seagulls arguing on the roof. I was terribly unhappy, but I didn’t have a clear picture of what to do. So I did nothing. For years. Until that summer morning where it came to me as clear as crystal: “Go do something.” That was it.

I thought maybe God wanted me to go do something in “ministry” but I didn’t know what that meant or where to begin. Here is the process I used to help guide my decision. Maybe it will help you too.

I spoke with people who were wise and knew me well to help me identify what I was good at.
I heard a lot of different things, but the common theme was that I should be doing something helping people. It seemed that perhaps a career in the ministry was for me. As you listen to what the wise people in your life are telling you, make sure you are asking the question, “How will I bring God’s grace into this area of the world?” If you do this, you will always be doing God’s will.
I used my common sense and began looking for colleges that could prepare me for ministry and fit my other needs as well. Your preparation may or may not include college, but it will certainly include learning. Whether it is an apprenticeship, an entry-level job or an internship, you will be learning. When looking for your place to prepare, be intentional about ensuring you have a network of Christians to help you integrate what you are learning with a Christian worldview. A church, a small group or a Christian college are all great ways to develop that network.
I began to make my plans for how to go about preparing, and I prayed this prayer (and meant it with my whole heart):

God, I want to please you more than anything. I think these steps make sense for me. If you have different plans, I will follow them willingly. If this is the wrong step, make it plain to me in a way I will understand.

Your heavenly father will not reject your earnest prayer to follow his will. He loves you too much.

I took the steps to begin my training and trusted God.

I can’t guarantee that the first draft of your plan is an inflexible roadmap going to where you will end up. It certainly wasn’t for me. Please remember that God is faithful and will not, under any circumstances, by any means, ever abandon you. He loves you too much. But don’t just wait. Go do something.

If you would like to have a conversation with Luke, feel free to email him at lmorgan@kuyper.edu and the two of you can chat about life, calling and different ways to prepare.

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My 51 – Menno, South Dakota Community

ThereforeGo Ministries — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 13:22:19 +0000

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Three years ago I came to the small town of Menno, South Dakota to serve as pastor of Grace Lutheran Church (NALC/LCMC). It was the first time I had ever heard of this “thing” called Serve. Our town has a population of 608 and five (yes, count them: FIVE) churches. Our churches are Immanuel Lutheran Church (LCMS), Peace Christian Reformed Church, Salem Reformed Church (CCCC), Zion Reformed Church (RCUS) and Grace Lutheran Church, where I currently serve.

For a number of years now, youth from all five of these churches have attended Serve in various locations, from Platte, South Dakota to Newark, New Jersey to Houston, Texas and everywhere in between. I had the privilege of attending as a leader in 2013. Our group went to Houston, Texas, and one of the messages I heard there was that the youth were to take what they had learned from their experience with Serve and to put into action locally. In other words, Serve is not just one week in a place away from home. Serve is also about the other 51 weeks throughout the year.

Some of our other adult leaders who have been active with Serve took that call seriously, and with many brilliant minds TUG was born. TUG stands for Teens United in God. This August will be our third year of TUG. We begin on Friday evening and throughout all day Saturday. The kids do not get to sleep in on Saturday morning. They come early. We eat together. And then we go into our community of 608 people and we work. Last year we helped with cleaning up a rural cemetery and repainting the picnic shelter located there. Another group repainted the dugout shelters at our local softball field. Another group repainted a very large building located on our main street in town. And another group did clean-up and painting at our local park. The kids of Menno, South Dakota and surrounding towns were so diligent in their work, they finished early, so another group repainted a garage (albeit small) in an hour and a half!!

When the kids are finished with a long day of working, it does not stop there. We get together and we worship and sing. We are reminded of why we are doing what we are doing in the first place. God has called us to live out our lives pleasing to him, and because of the gracious gift he has given to us in Jesus Christ, serving our community is the least we can do.

In addition to the kids volunteering, we need many adults to help out. We had entire families helping us that day. This year, we have had people asking what projects the kids are doing for TUG. We now have other groups in town giving donations for TUG.

The local people are looking forward to seeing all the kids and adults out working in the community.

As a pastor of a small town, I cannot even begin to say how proud I am of this community. It is a community filled with faith in Jesus Christ. Yes, we do have residents who do not attend church, who do not believe that God is almighty and loves them so much he would give the greatest sacrifice of all. And it is because of that, that my hope and my prayer is that these kids and their families can be witnesses to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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The Chicago Covenant

ThereforeGo Ministries — Thu, 28 May 2015 20:16:44 +0000

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On April 22, in Chicago, IL, 24 Christian Reformed youth workers and denominational staff came together to strategize and strengthen student discipleship within the context of local congregations. Those attending were a great representation of the countless committed and passionate youth workers found in Christian Reformed congregations across Canada and the United States, and Youth Unlimited was blessed to play a role in supporting this gathering.

Following the 3-day gathering, this group assembled a document they entitled “The Chicago Covenant”. This brief document included; a vision for student discipleship, a call for support from denominational leadership and ministries like Youth Unlimited, a commitment to strengthen their congregational efforts and a commitment to pray and support the broader Christian Reformed church efforts.

At the June 2015 Christian Reformed Synod, Syd Hielema, Director of the Christian Reformed Faith Formation Ministries, will present the work of those 24 youth workers. Syd and those youth workers would like to invite anyone from the Christian Reformed Church who can agree with what’s in the covenant to join them by signing it. You can view the Chicago Covenant here and sign by clicking here. The hope is to have nearly 1,000 signatures before Syd presents it at Synod in June.

Youth Unlimited has had the joy of serving Christian Reformed congregations for decades and we eagerly sign it and welcome our friends to do so as well!

For questions and comments regarding The Chicago Covenant, please contact Syd Hielema at shielema@crcna.org.

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A New Attitude in Missions

ThereforeGo Ministries — Wed, 27 May 2015 13:02:37 +0000

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I love mission trips and service projects! In forty years of youth ministry, I have been on close to 100 of them. What’s not to love? We get to obey God’s command to minister to the “least of these.” We travel and experience different cultures as we meet new people, make new friends, and strengthen the unity of the youth group. We come home excited, blessed, and ready to live fully for Christ. It’s all good, right? Well…maybe not.

Experts are discovering that one barrier to effective ministry is that sometimes our good intentions and well-meaning help can actually harm those we are trying to serve when we do it without sensitivity and understanding. Another barrier is the rise of narcissism in youth culture. Students have told me they will go on a mission trip if it is out of the county, someplace warm, or if there is a fun “day away” activity. How can we break these barriers and open up our hearts and minds so the Spirit can work through us to bless others and glorify God?

Perhaps we can begin by asking and wrestling with some questions such as:

Does the ministry we do strengthen or weaken those we are serving?
Is this service going to enhance or erode the recipient’s work ethic?
Will this cause the recipient to become more independent or more dependent?

We need to be sure that the ministry we offer does not in any way diminish the recipients, rob them of dignity, or devalue their unique individuality. We don’t intend to do that, but without understanding and sensitivity, it can happen.

Here are some questions and suggestions to help you and your students wrestle with these issues as you prepare yourself to be servants of the one true King:

Why am I doing this? Is it to get away for a nice trip with friends or is there a willingness to deny oneself, give sacrificially, and put the needs of others first?
What is my attitude? Do I see myself as some kind of redeemer come to rescue from injustice or am I aware I am a fellow pilgrim on this journey of life willing to walk with a brother or sister while we lean on and learn from each other?
Who am I ministering to? Am I willing to set aside all preconceived ideas, judgmental attitudes, and biases to see those I meet as image bearer of God, redeemed sinners, brothers and sisters in Christ? Am I humble enough to learn what they have to teach me? Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Every man I meet is my superior in some way.”
How am I ministering? Am I willing to work hard work to understand what it means to live with injustice, bigotry, or marginalization? Am I willing to try to walk in their shoes, to be sensitive to their unique situation?

For a better understanding on how to develop a new attitude that will enable you to serve effectively, I recommend two books to use with your group before the mission trip: “Toxic Charity” by Robert D. Lupton and “When Helping Hurts” by Brian Fikkert.

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Coming Home from Mission Trips – Now What?

ThereforeGo Ministries — Wed, 20 May 2015 12:27:16 +0000

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In last week’s blog entry, Jerry Meadows wrote about prepping students for missions and questioned how they might integrate a missions experience into their daily lives once suitcases were unpacked. It is the hope of most youth leaders that students come away from a mission trip having grown a deeper understanding of their faith, a deeper sense of self and others, and a greater understanding of God’s call on their lives to be agents of justice in the world around them. Yes, some incredible outcomes are hoped for here.

We cannot, of course, assume students will easily transfer their experiences to everyday living and so leaders need to be intentional about the entire mission trip experience. This includes proper pre-trip preparation (not just fund raisers); on site reflections and debriefing about what happened and what was learned, and evaluating what that means for each person as they go home. The 7 Standards of Excellence for Short Term Missions (they have been referred to in previous posts in this series), indicate there should be “thorough, thoughtful, and appropriate follow through for goer-guests,” and so dedicated time needs to be spent on debriefing – not just sharing photos over a pizza dinner. Lastly, and probably most important, is the transfer of things learned on the trip. In their book, Deep Justice in a Broken World – helping your kids serve others and right the wrongs around Them, authors Chap Clark and Kara Powell have a chapter on how to “help students move from doing Kingdom things, to being Kingdom people.” Important then to working with a group of students is to help them understand that this is not about the trip being over, but a journey that continues.

So how do leaders help that process of building Kingdom people?

Here is a list of ideas and suggestions that may be helpful:

Assign each student in your group a mentor (or ask the student to choose someone) who will walk the mission trip journey with them and help them process each component of their experience and ask questions that will bring clarity and meaning to what they encounter. Although not necessary, it would be great if the mentor has previous mission trip experiences.
Follow up with students a number of times after a trip to continue processing how they are doing post trip. Do they have more questions? How have they seen God impact their lives now that they’re back home? What ideas do they have to impact their youth group, church or community?
Upon return home, provide other activities that place students in environments that will expose them to issues in their own community, stretch their skills and perceptions, and maximize what they learned on their trip.
Continue to educate your Youth Group on how best to serve. Consider an annual theme for your ministry program that will create deeper awareness of issues related to poverty, justice, and missions. The Chalmers Center has some great video clips that will trigger some excellent discussion.

Finally, over the last few years, a group of denominational staff have met together on a regular basis to evaluate their mission programs in light of the 7 Standards of Excellence and bringing all their resources, policies and procedures in line so that mission trips are facilitated with excellence that benefit the senders, goers and host receivers. Along with that work, the group is supporting the development of a curriculum designed with the Standards of Excellence in mind. It is calledCurriculum for Life and considers all participants and their involvement through the process. It is this group’s hope that this material will be available towards the end of 2015. Stay tuned for its launch!

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Prepping Students for Missions

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 11 May 2015 12:18:51 +0000

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When asked about my favorite mission trip, I always say the next one. As a Youth and Family Pastor, I took my school students to places across North America, Mexico, and even to Vietnam. Later, while at CURE International, I became close friends with nationals in 11 countries (including Afghanistan, the UAE, and several African and Latin American countries) learning from them what helped and hurt their long-term ministries in short term missions.

Since I oversee Serve, people naturally think I help churches plan student mission trips. Close, but not quite. At Youth Unlimited, we are helping churches engage students in missional living, not just for one week. I’d like to be known as the guy who helps church youth groups become more missional the other 51 weeks of the year and through their life journey.

Here are 3 things I keep in mind when preparing students for mission trips:

It’s a wave, not a mountain top experience. While the mountain top analogy has worked for years, it’s time to retire it. There is now a rhythm to our mission trips and we can look over the course of 12 months and see waves of God’s work in a student’s life. Hopefully there are some big ones like a mission trip, camp, retreat, convention, etc. Some waves maybe smaller but make up the ocean of consistent Christian growth: youth group meetings, church attendance, classes, personal mentoring, etc. We can even look at the 6 years of middle and high school and plan for the bigger waves periodically. The mission trip experience is simply another wave of God’s work to make the most of. And this is so important: that experience is simply a wave in the life of the people they are ministering to. God is working there all through the year as well.
The MISTM Grid (found in the book Maximum Impact Short-Term Mission by Roger Peterson, Gordon Aeschliman, and R. Wayne Sneed). MISTM gives an at-a-glance tool for planning. It highlights that the “Goers” are only one of 3 sets of participants. The “Hosts” (those that receive the team) and the “Senders” are also experiencing waves of Gods work through this trip. And while we are all very concerned with preparing our group of “Goers”, we must also be as concerned about the post trip follow through of the “Hosts” and the “Senders”. For another great source, check out the 7 Standards of Excellence at www.soe.org.
Speaking of post trip, what about the outcomes? What do you want the students (Goers) to experience and learn? What do you hope they integrate into their daily life long after the suitcase is unpacked? What do you want your Host to experience and learn? What about the community of people you are serving? If the outcomes aren’t obvious to the participants, how do you know if you are accomplishing what God wants? Download the attached set of Serve Outcomes as an example. Email me, or comment below, and I will send you 6 Outcomes I believe God accomplishes in students on nearly every mission trip. Also take a look at the ebook, Rebuilders of Almost Anything (the link will be coming shortly).

If you’re having success in this area, I’d invite you to tell your story! We have a number of church leaders from across Canada and the US who are engaging students missionally throughout the entire year.

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How to Prepare Spiritually for a Mission Trip

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 05 May 2015 18:19:14 +0000

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First things first: How do you prepare for a mission trip?

I’m not talking about the logistics – the fundraising plans, coordinating the ubiquitous big white youth vans – I’m talking about how you, in the midst of all that, prepare your heart, your spirit, for the work God will be doing in your own life through this experience. And not only how to prepare your own heart and spirit, but also the hearts of your students as the mission trip looms closer.

Now there’s lots of articles out there on the interwebs telling you the best way to prepare spiritually for mission trips. But many can be boiled down to: Read your Bible. Prepare to share the gospel with unbelievers. And get your students a prayer partner who will pack chocolates and uplifting notes for them during the trip.

But let’s go a little bit deeper, shall we?

Question your motives.

Yep. You heard me correctly. Question your motives. Why are you going on a mission trip? Not why you should go on a mission trip or why others are going on a mission trip. Nope. Why are you?

Is it just another item on the List of Things Every Good Christian Should Do? Want to go play White Savior with the poor people? Be the hero? For students specifically: Do you simply want to travel and a mission trip is easily approved by the parental units? Or, more positively: Do you want to learn about other cultures? To learn something about yourself?

Examine your heart. Your reasons. Your motivations. We are complex creatures with complex motives. Examining your own reasons for signing up for a mission trip – whether you’re a leader or a student – is essential for preparing your own heart for the trip and opening yourself to what God may have planned for you through the experience.

2. Pray intentionally for the people and places you will visit.

I’m not talking about general prayers like “We pray tonight for Nicaragua” without having any idea what’s going on in Nicaragua, let alone the specific region and cities you will actually be visiting.

Whether you’re going somewhere outside of North America, like Nicaragua, or you’re going to a different neighborhood in your own hometown, get to know the prayers and needs of the people living there.

If you’re going local, take your students (or go yourself), on a prayer walk around the neighborhood you’ll be serving. Connect with long-time residents and hear their stories. Don’t stay strangers until the day you strap on work boots and color-coordinated team shirts.

If you’re going global, read the BBC World section or the New York Times International coverage for your country’s region. Find and follow recommended Twitter accounts from folks in country. Learn and listen to the national conversation. If you live near a place like Toronto, seek out immigrant communities in your own backyard – attend a Haitian church service, taste mole and pico de gallo at a local Mexican restaurant.

Get to know the people and places you will visit on a mission trip so that your prayers for them may come from knowledge and compassion, not ignorance and disinterest. Intentional prayer cultivates empathy, curiosity, and awareness which are essential attitudes to pack alongside those coordinated team shirts.

3. Ask for a word.

Instead of opening your Bible and searching for a meaningful verse on your own, seek out a wise person in your life – a pastor, a mentor, an insightful friend – and ask them for a word.

Ask them to pray about and discern a Scripture passage to assign to you. Then receive that word. Read it. Mediate on it. Live with it. Carry it with you. Even when you have no idea why this supposedly “wise” person would give you such a dull passage! Or so you think….until you’re packing your bag or listening to someone’s story and the Spirit brings the words of that passage to mind and you hear the voice of God for you in that moment.

In all this, remember that God is at work in this world and we have the privilege and invitation to witness to that work when we’re on a mission trip. May your eyes be opened and your hearts moved by the Spirit as you glimpse the mission of our God.

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Rev. Amanda Bakale is the youth and young adult engagement coordinator at World Renew. Based in Kitchener, Ontario, this former West Michigan girl loves her bi-national identity, her Canadian husband, and cheering for the Toronto Blue Jays in the midst of all her Detroit Tigers-lovin’ friends and family.

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Preparing Ourselves for Short Term Missions

Ron deVries — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 18:33:42 +0000

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Over the past year, various people from youth ministry backgrounds have offered their collective voices to the content of this Youth Ministry Network blog. We hope you have found it to be helpful and encouraging.

For April we will continue the conversation but have invited some new voices to the page.

The spring and summer months are often filled with teens and their leaders heading off to “far away” or “just down the street” places where youth and leaders alike are stretched physically and spiritually as they embark on journeys typically called “Short Term” mission trips.

Many challenges often accompany these trips so the idea was to invite writers in to share about how we as ministry leaders can prepare ourselves, and our youth, for such experiences. Preparation for mission trips is not just about fundraising and packing one’s bags before departing. It’s much more than that and you will read some insights into this over the weeks to come.

Within the denomination there is a collaborative energy taking place between organizations like Youth Unlimited, ServiceLink, World Renew and others, to embrace something called “The Seven Standards of Excellence for Short Term Missions” (SOE), which is a tool to help churches and organizations develop best practices as they seek to serve Jesus by serving others. During this month you will read about these seven standards, along with other observations and concepts.

So let me introduce you to those who will lead us in our Youth Ministry blog for April and the first week of May:

Rev. Amanda Bakale (World Renew): Amanda is a Youth and Young Adult Engager (she is also connected with YALT and is a regular tweeter).
Jerry Meadows (Youth Unlimited): Jerry is “The SERVE guy” and is very well connected with all things “short-term mission” related.
Carol Sybenga (ServiceLink Program Manager): Carol is a former youth ministry director and works for ServiceLink, which is the bi-national volunteer services program of the Christian Reformed Church.
Jolene deHeer (www.jolenedeheer.com): Jolene is a Youth Unlimited speaker and author.

During their time with us over the next number of weeks, these wonderfully gifted contributors will share about various practical, theoretical and spiritual practices that can help us be prepared for our short-term mission trips.

Please join us for our look at “missions” preparation.

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Ron deVries works for Classis Alberta North as the Youth Ministry Consultant and have done so since 2007. He also serves as a Faith Formation Coach for the Denomination. Monique, his wonderfully supportive wife, and he have been married since 1985. They have 2 incredible children, Amanda and Shawn. Amanda married Matt and Shawn married Roxanne, so now they have and share 4 incredible children. They are also grandparents to the cutest puppy you will ever meet, Doozer.

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The Case for Well Rounded Kids

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 12:41:11 +0000

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photo credit: 12 via photopin (license)

We live in a day when adults are pushing kids to discover their strengths and focus their lives. Thanks to the Gallup organization and author Marcus Buckingham, we have learned to concentrate on building strengths and to only play in that space. Not surprisingly, this has caused parents to hone our styles and launch our kids into football, ballet, piano, theatre, tennis or gymnastics at five years old. As a result, a lot of our kids today have the notion that they can just sharpen their skill until they go pro. We’ve embraced the idea of mental focus.

While this represents progress in many ways, it’s also had its downside. I’m not so sure we’ve embraced the idea of emotional health. Over the long haul, we’re now seeing the outcomes of our leadership styles. Parents, who are convinced they are raising the next Derek Jeter, or Tiger Woods or Serena Williams, push their children to make the grade, make the team, make the dream.

In our work with students, I’ve seen the problem surface in a handful of ways:

1. The Oversized Gift*

Young people cultivate a single gift (or talent), and it becomes their source of identity (sometimes, the sole source). The gift becomes bigger than they are. Soon, they begin to wing it in other areas of their lives, thinking they really don’t need to develop skills in other areas. After all, they’re an incredible ________________. (You fill in the blank: tennis player, singer, actor, musician, dancer, etc). Their growth

becomes distorted and lopsided. Later, when that gift is no longer able to carry them, they’re in trouble.

2. Early Burnout

Young people who are pushed in a single area often burnout early. They get sick of softball, gymnastics, you name it—and end up quitting the very activity they once loved. It was too much, too soon. They needed to have a childhood where they played a variety of games, but they never got it. It may just be my opinion, but kids should never “burn out” in middle school. They should be exploring at 12-13, building general, personal skills that’ll be relevant, regardless of where they end up.

3. Emotionally Unhealthy, Angst-filled Young Adults

Young people who are pushed too soon and too much are vulnerable to a lifestyle of angst and emotional depression. As their brain develops during adolescence, it becomes challenging to navigate the emotional highs and lows of hormone changes and intense competition. It’s especially sad when it’s mom or dad pushing them—simply because they enjoy the competition—but have no idea what it’s doing to their child.

Because we work with several NCAA Division 1 athletic departments, I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of coaches, and more of them than ever are telling me they now recruit athletes from multiple sports, not just theirs. The reason? They believe they get a healthier student athlete, one that is more balanced and able to handle the ups and downs of wins and losses. In addition, they get an athlete who isn’t burned out, but one who’s ready and able to give a lot to the sport at 18 or 19 years old. They get happy, well-adjusted players.

Their Source of Stress

I have written much about how stressed out American high school and college students are today. 94% of college students say the number one word they use to describe their life is overwhelmed. In a UK survey, they report that their number one source of stress is their parents. This is negatively affecting everyone.

Dr. Eric Herman, a clinical psychologist at Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, tells us that when a parent pushes too much, the result is an overwhelmed child who is too stressed out to get things done. Your child needs to relax and have fun. It will help him recharge his batteries, just as relaxation helps you recharge your batteries.

For the past decade, Daryl Capuano, educator and founder of The Learning Consultants in New Haven, Conn., has been counseling parents on understanding key igniters in motivating children and the harmful effects of nagging. When a child hears a message repeatedly, she starts to view it as a big negative. If you often tell your child, “You are not going to get into college if you don’t study harder,” she might avoid studying or any discussion of college. She could begin to slack off on homework or even skip school. This pressure creates a significant motivation deflation, warns Capuano. Even a very young child can lose interest in playing baseball if he fears he’s not measuring up to his parents’ expectations.

A Balancing Act

I am simply arguing that we must strike a healthy balance in the lives of our students. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, coach or youth worker, we must balance:

1. Helping them find and develop their strengths so they can be productive.

2. Helping them mature emotionally and live healthy, balanced lives.

Here’s to developing well-rounded kids who become well-adjusted adults.

*(“The Oversized Gift” is a Habitude from Book One of the series.)

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Stepping Out of Student Ministry

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 13:40:05 +0000

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The following post was written by Ben Trueblood, Director of LifeWay Student Ministry

Three years ago I stepped away from student ministry in a local church setting into my current position as the director of LifeWay Student Ministries. I had been a student pastor for 13 years and I was having the time of my life at an incredible church in Hampton, Virginia. It was one of those situations that you don’t just walk away from.

Over the last couple of years many of my friends have also transitioned out of student ministry into other roles. Some are pastors, others church planters, associate pastors, next generation pastors, young adult pastors, you name it and they’ve transitioned into it. All of them were in healthy situations where they were making an impact, and have made healthy transitions to these other positions.

This leads me to the question of the day. Not just today, but a question that has been asked of me many days throughout the last three years and a question that has been pondered frequently among those who have been in student ministry for a while.

When is it time to step out of student ministry?

I would like to admit up front that I don’t think there’s a concrete answer for this question. There’s no magic formula that you can use at the end of this blog to find out if you should step out of student ministry into another role. A current reality in student ministry is that we live in a day where the tenure of a student pastor seems short. I’m not referring to church switching here (different issue altogether), but the actual time that someone spends as a student pastor. It saddens me to think of how many “student pastors” are just using the student position as a catapult to something “greater.” Student ministry isn’t a stepping stone. If you are treating it as such, just go do what you’re really called to do.

Back to our question: when is it time to step out of student ministry? I think the best way to answer this question is to give you some observations from my own experience, and the experiences of others that I’ve gleaned from countless conversations with people who have made healthy transitions out of student ministry.

Observation 1: Healthy transition often comes when you aren’t seeking the transition on your own.

Observation 2: There are seasons of growth, and there aren’t. Being in one of the non-growth seasons doesn’t mean that you’re washed up and should leave student ministry. It IS a time that you can use to evaluate process, strategy, and vision.

Observation 3: Age isn’t a factor in this decision. Restructuring around where you are in life is always something to consider. For example, leading a student ministry when you have multiple children looks different than when it is just you or you and your spouse.

Observation 4: There will always be people who disagree with you and these people shouldn’t determine God’s call on your life.

Observation 5: Your response to authority says more about your own relationship with the Lord than it does about the leadership of your boss. Translation: leaving student ministry because of a bad relationship with your pastor is not the first option. There are many steps you can take before you get to that point.

Observation 6: The work is always going to be hard, and there’s always going to be a lot of it. This is true because what you’re doing is meaningful and when you consider the end goal of reaching and discipling the next generation, we should work hard at it.

Observation 7: As a student pastor you are serving in one of the most fertile mission fields on the planet.

Observation 8: It is a tremendous honor to be a student pastor, to disciple students and their families, and to speak into a person’s life at its most critical stage.

Observation 9: The grass isn’t greener over there, wherever “there” is. It’s just different.

Observation 10: It is difficult to lead an effective student ministry when one foot is with students and the other foot is trying to find the next step.

When is it time to step out of student ministry? In all honesty, I’m not really sure. What I am sure about is that student ministry needs people who will stick around. Churches and families need student pastors who will give their focus and energy wholeheartedly to student ministry until the moment that God decides to move them. This is the way it happened with the friends I mentioned above. They were wholeheartedly devoted to student ministry until the moment God transitioned them, and even in the transition there was reluctance and a hesitance to walk away from something they loved so much.

When is it time to step out of student ministry? At some level, it is time to step out when God calls you to something else, and you are hesitant, fearful, or remorseful (maybe all three) to step away from something that you love dearly.

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Think Spring: Community Garden Toolkit

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 12:38:55 +0000

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As a part of a national movement, many non-profits, schools, churches, and neighborhood organizations are considering community and cooperative gardening. Community gardens can provide sustainable ways to supplement food pantries, improve school lunch programs, increase neighborhood food security, create welcoming green spaces and build relationships.

ECHO exists to reduce hunger and improve the lives of small-scale farmers worldwide. They work to identify, validate, document and disseminate best practices in sustainable agriculture and appropriate technology. They provide agriculture and technology training to development worker in over 165 countries.

A unique perspective that ECHO brings to the domestic community gardening movement is a perspective of agriculture shaped by their work with small-scale farmers in many of the poorest regions of the world. They seek to provide an opportunity for practical and affordable ideas to be shared and communicated across the globe. This often takes the form of low-cost and low-input recommendations, which typically include the use of nutritious tropical perennials and subtropical plant varieties as part of a sustainable agricultural system.

Download the ECHO Community Garden Toolkit.

This resource was designed to help you discover the diversity of resources available within your community, to meet the felt needs of your community, as well as promote intercultural understanding of issues regarding hunger, poverty, and justice in sustainable agriculture around the world. You can use it to better assist you in the organization and implementation of particular elements crucial to making a garden project successful.

Be creative. Get dirty. Have fun with your students.

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What Educators Can Learn From Major Brands

ThereforeGo Ministries — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 14:05:22 +0000

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For years, I have advocated something taught by futurist Dr. Leonard Sweet. In his book, The Gospel According to Starbucks, he suggests that youth today make up an EPIC Generation: they are Experiential, Participatory, Image-rich and Connected.

I regularly ask faculty members this question: How EPIC is your classroom? I believe the more EPIC we are, the better chances we’ll have of getting through.

Just look at some of the EPIC moves made by major brands recently.

E – Experiential

Last month, Starbucks opened something even more experiential than their typical stores. You could call it: Starbucks on steroids. It’s the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room, a mega-store with specially carved teak doors in Seattle’s Capital Hill. Part-store, part-theatre part made-for-social-media-buzz tourist attraction, this special location stands at 15,000 square feet and could house a dozen typical sister-stores. It’s a factory and a store, mixing glitz with culture: the coffee is actually roasted right on the spot, bagged and shipped all over the world. There are 30 different coffees to be sold there; 45 people can sit at its “coffee experience” (100 can stand); and 250 jobs were created by this new location. In short, coffee drinking takes on a whole new experience.

Question: How can you create an environment that is more experiential as you teach students? How can you develop items that help clarify your message that students can see, touch, taste, smell or hear?

P – Participatory

McDonald’s just announced a new addition as well. Responding to their falling stock prices and shrinking population of young adult customers, the world’s largest fast-food chain will expand its “Create Your Taste” test platform. This allows customers to skip the counter and visit a kiosk where they can customize everything about their hamburger or chicken sandwich—sauces, buns, cheeses, extras, you name it. This is the biggest menu change McDonald’s has made since they introduced breakfast items four decades ago. This year, the platform expands to 2,000 locations across the U.S. Why? Because it gives the customer a chance to customize and personalize their order… just the way we like things today. (It wasn’t long ago that Nike introduced a way for everyone to customize their shoe orders). It makes us feel unique and gives us a greater sense of “ownership” of what we both eat and wear, in a world where we often feel like just a number.

Question: How can you offer a greater sense of “ownership” among your students by allowing them to personalize the subject or the pedagogy of your classroom? Is there any way they can put their fingerprints on the course so that it feels tailored.

I – Image-rich

More and more organizations are getting this one right. Students are part of a visual generation. That doesn’t make them anti-intellectual or simplistic, just iconic. They consume so much information day to day, they are drawn to metaphors in speeches and pictures on screens. And for those of us who communicate important messages, they prefer images. Just a few years ago, we began to see NCAA football programs switching to the use of images to call plays, snap counts and formations. The University of Oregon began doing this under Coach Chip Kelly and continues even to this day. As a result, dozens of other college football teams have switched to this strategy. Pictures communicate more quickly and more memorably than words. In short, images are quick and they stick. Do you suppose what works on a field may just work in a class?

Question: How could you incorporate a metaphor or word picture in your teaching that could anchor the “big idea” you’re trying to relay? Even though you might be sharing lots of complex ideas, could you enter the topic with an image?

C – Connected

Last fall, the new College Football Hall of Fame opened in Atlanta, GA. It’s just spectacular. CEO John Stephenson was kind enough to host a group of us from various NCAA schools, and immediately we recognized how the HOF and museum enabled guests to “connect” with the school, team and people they cared most about. When you enter, you see the helmet of every Division One program in the nation. You then identify the school you favor, and from that point on, wherever you tour in the building, people, plays and games in the exhibits will light up from your school. There are places for visitors to kick a football through the goal posts, do a personal touchdown dance and record it, watch video, sing a fight song… you name it. I guess you could say…the Hall of Fame is EPIC. Most of all, it enables people to connect.

Question: How could you enable students to connect with peers they care about as you teach? Is there a way you could create smaller communities for them to upload their own thoughts and “own” the topic they are learning?

By the way—if you like pondering this kind of creative communication, I’d love to invite you to our 2015 National Leadership Forum. Our theme this year is Communicate Better, and we have an incredible line up speakers and some EPIC moments planned. It will be our best one yet. CLICK HERE for information or to register.

For more information on Tim Elmore and/or Growing Leaders, click here.

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Making Justice a Part of Everyday Life

ThereforeGo Ministries — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 16:12:10 +0000

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The following is a post on justice from Live 58, an organization that emphasizes helping pastors and leaders equip and empower the Church to live the True Fast.

Justice is often invoked by passionate teachers, pastors, and leaders inviting us into new action. For example, a justice-themed sermon from a leader or pastor to encourage the church to volunteer, go on a youth missions trip, or give to a cause. Justice is often focused upon doing something new, but what about the actions you and I take every day?

Here’s the thing: justice isn’t always about doing something new; it’s about infusing what we already do with Kingdom values. We wake up every day and make about fifty decisions – we decide what clothes to wear, what food to eat, how to commute to work or school, how to treat our friends, family, and strangers, what to pray for, where to invest our money, and so on. Justice isn’t simply an action once a year; it is a lifestyle. Our prayer is that our everyday actions will be infused with justice – not our definition of justice but God’s revelation of justice in Scripture.

The scriptures and the movement of the Holy Spirit call us to seek justice and permeate our everyday life choices – pushing us not just to seek justice but also to live justly. Perhaps you too feel that call to seek justice. You are not alone in this experience–countless churches, campus groups, small groups, families, and individuals have heard the call and asked us “what’s next?”

Live Justly is an in-depth scriptural and practical study to help people live justly in 6 key areas of life: advocacy, prayer, consumption, generosity, creation care and relationships. This study is organized in 10 sessions. The first 3 explore foundational concepts and the following 6 discuss practical life application. The final chapter is about action plans both individually and for the church.

Live Justly was developed by Micah Challenge. For more information, check out the Live Justly site. You can also explore tips on leading this curriculum here. Order the book, get a group together, and begin the process of living life justly everyday.

We would love to celebrate your story of how this process changed your life and impacted your church.

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Sabbath Summer

ThereforeGo Ministries — Thu, 26 Feb 2015 18:21:55 +0000

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A few years ago we (the Youth Ministries Committee of the Ann Arbor Christian Reformed Church) began to take a look at our youth group meeting and retreat schedule for the middle and high school youth programs at our church. We were noticing a drop in attendance and after talking to families, we confirmed what we knew… our teens were really busy. Of course we were a tad indignant that our programs were taking a hit. Where were these families’ priorities? But then, after taking an honest look at our own programming, we realized that we were contributing to the busy-ness of life for these teens and their families. Our middle school youth had two programs that met on alternating Wednesdays, thereby filling up every Wednesday night during the school year. The same thing held true for our high school students on Sunday evenings. In addition, multiple programs were doing multiple retreats, some with significant overlap of purpose or theme. Families had to make choices as to which events to attend, causing overall numbers at a single event to decrease.

We realized that we were not following through on our responsibilities. We were tasked as a committee to minister to BOTH the families AND the youth of our congregation. Our youth offerings were taking away from family time. It was time to address the over-scheduling our families were feeling. As a first step, we consolidated the multiple offerings we had for middle school and high school students. Now these age groups meet every other week, instead of weekly. We also looked at our summer and winter retreats. We looked at time commitments required of the teens, families and chaperones for each of these retreats. We looked at the costs of the retreats. We realized that we were asking a lot of families if we expected their children to attend all the options.

So, out of this, our “Sabbath Summer” was imagined. Why “Sabbath”? Sabbath is about being present – not concentrating on tomorrow or being regretful for yesterday. One goal we have for our over-committed students is that they learn to rest in the grace of the present. Therefore, we hope to provide a summer where we don’t ask families to budget hundreds of dollars to go towards sending their sons and daughters away from home for a week. This coming summer will be our first Sabbath Summer, which will occur every 4th year going forward. We will be asking the families and students to engage the meaning of Sabbath as rest, balance, health and wholeness. During this summer we will challenge them to also keep a traditional Sabbath day. A few times throughout the summer we will meet to discuss what it means to have a holy day of rest – how to create the time and space to be quiet, not connected to our technology, in the hopes of experiencing spiritual growth, awakening, healing.

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Feed the Need with a Can in Hand

ThereforeGo Ministries — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 19:48:05 +0000

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I want to believe that there is a something rooted deep within our being that can drive upward and outward the passions and actions to willingly help those around us. For some of us, it comes seemingly easy, and for others, it takes a personal experience to loosen those chains holding us back. This stirring began about a year ago as a series of events were already taking place.

First, our high school youth group was in the midst of a study of the book of Acts, with a focus on how the first church responded to each other and those around them. Two different sections of verses from the book of Acts were of real importance: Acts 2:45 “…they (the believers) gave to anyone as he had need”, and Acts 4:32-34, “All the believers were one in heart and mind… They shared everything they had… There were no needy persons among them.” This challenged our youth group to begin to think of ways to help assist those around us.

Second, we were preparing for our 2014 summer mission trips with Youth Unlimited and we were challenged to look at Isaiah 58 on “True Fasting” and read a book entitled Fast Living by Dr. Scott C. Todd. The chapter from Scripture and this book would be of great assistance to preparing us for our Serve mission trip to Washington DC in July, and for how we can view and assist those around us with real needs.

Third, due to some extenuating circumstances, our middle school youth group needed to change locations for their local summer service weekend. Connections were discussed about how Bravo CRC, located just south of Fennville, MI would be willing to host the group so that we could assist the Sonshine Thrift Store and Food Pantry. The group went out and spent a weekend in June helping out around the thrift store, the church and in other small ways to impact those located in the Bravo community. These events all came together to pave the way for developing the Can In Hand Ministry.

After spending last summer and fall getting to know some of the members of Bravo CRC and individuals in the Bravo Community, it became very apparent that clothes, household items, and food were all needed and could be of greater assistance. So what could the youth groups, my church and I do to assist with this need?

While this question and others were being discussed, two things were also happening. First, following our summer Serve trip with Youth Unlimited, we were challenged to start something 45-90 days later that could help serve others around us. Second, my church was kicking of a 9 month series around the book The Story (published by Zondervan) and is a look at “the Bible as one continuing story of God and His people.” Throughout God’s story, he is continually showing his love and grace for his people by providing for their needs – from their daily needs to their spiritual needs – and is challenging the people to do the same for others.

One such story (from Genesis 41) was how Joseph took the vision from God to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams to store up food during the seven good years of harvest to provide for the people of his nation and other nations during the seven lean years. This story of Joseph was part of the process to reveal to us a way to both love God and love others and Can In Hand Ministry then developed out of this revelation.

Leading up to this new ministry, our church, like many others, would do a few food drives throughout the year to help support our local food distribution agencies as well as ministries that served those with needs. We realized that Graafschap was a church with a congregation that could be described as living in the “seven good years” and our food drives were serving those living in the “seven lean years”.

The challenge was then created to try to build up a storehouse of food, so that when local food distribution agencies could benefit from food assistance, we could just open the doors. How exactly do we get to the point of building up the storehouses? Can in Hand became this answer and is a challenge for our congregation to come to church with your Bible in one hand (Love God) and a can of food in the other (Love Others).

Our goal was set high but our expectations were set low. If, as a goal, 300 people from our church – young and old alike – would each bring a can a week, this could total up to 1200 cans a month! Just think of the people that could be impacted! With this goal being set, our expectation was for 20-30% of the congregation to participate, because we realized that we are challenging the way for our congregation to think differently about giving/generosity and how they prepare for Sunday mornings.

Since the kick-off of this ministry last October, we have met our expectations and have averaged 80-100 non-perishable food items. Still, we realize it is still early in the ministry life of Can in Hand and, that being said, the majority of the food is being sent down to the Sonshine Thrift Store Food Pantry because of our direct connections from last summer. Some would call this a success (which I do, because even 40 cans of food is still better than zero cans of food), but I believe that God is still challenging us to do more for him and for those around us.

While we have ebbed and flowed with the giving and participation from week to week, our congregation is hopefully grasping the concept that Loving God and Loving Others is about abiding in Christ and inviting others to join us too. Sometimes this starts by changing the way it means to live generously, which could include ”feeding the need with a can in hand”.

Click here if you would like to start a Can in Hand ministry at your church/organization to download an editable information sheet for your congregation.

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The Questions God Asks

ThereforeGo Ministries — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 15:39:35 +0000

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If you could ask God a question, what would it be?

Go ahead; write it in the comments of this blog below. Take time to ponder and wordsmith if you want, type it in and then press enter or just scribble it down on a piece of scrap paper, crumple it up and throw it away. Either way, you can’t really “send it” or “throw it”. The question lingers and hopefully the answer will eventually linger as well.

If there’s no answer right now, my prayer is that wondering or even doubting will lead to leaning further into God’s wisdom and not into discouragement or disillusion. (Proverbs 3:5-6) There’s a tension that God lets linger when questions are on the table. Why does he do that?

Sometimes when we express those deeper questions it reflects a longing for the world to be reconciled or made right. The world groans for that day according to Romans 8. It seems God would move us from groaning for our own “personal world” to be made right into a groaning for the world, his world, to be made right.

At times it’s as if God has said to me, “Go ahead and question; long for answers in your personal life and for your family and the things that matter to you. Then, let me show you how I long for the people that matter to me. Then, let’s make a difference together.”

Ask your questions. Plead, cry, grieve, doubt and deliberate. Ancients of the faith did. Then, in the aftermath of our own questions, listen for his.

It’s when we turn our attention to God’s questions that we find peace in the tension. It’s when we turn our desire for the answers into the desire for his perspective that we become hungry and thirsty for the right things.

If that sounds trite or churchy, it might be necessary to return to the first paragraph and continue working through your own questions and struggle. There is a deep work God wants to do in and through our struggles and questions.

I remember reading a book that urged me to make the most of suffering and I just wasn’t ready to. I put my bookmark in the page, shut the book hard and threw it across the room. Eventually, there is grace to work on our own struggles and co-labor with Christ in the world. Don’t rush your own process if you’re struggling today.

What are the questions God asks?

Going through the Gospels and making a note of everything Jesus asked in conversations would be a great study.

There is also an “at-a-glance” outline in Isaiah 58. God’s people are asking why it seems he is not listening to them and blessing them and moving heaven and earth to help them. He moves them into his questions which will lead to the deeper answers for which they long.

For a seven part youth group curriculum that guides students through dealing with their own troubles, celebrating God’s work through Christ, true worship, a true fast and “kingdom living in the middle of normal”, please download the Youth Unlimited Student Curriculum at www.thereforego.com/downloads.

Isaiah 58:5-9

NASB

“Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it for bowing ^[^b^]one’s head like a reed
And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?
Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?
⁶“Is this not the fast which I choose,
To loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free
And break every yoke?
⁷“Is it not to divide your bread ^[^c^]with the hungry
And bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, to cover him;
And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
⁸“Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your recovery will speedily spring forth;
And your righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
⁹“Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

What questions are you asking God today?

What questions is God asking you?

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Welcome To The Table

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 16:23:05 +0000

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While serving a remote village in the mountains of Haiti, I spent an afternoon inviting people to church. The most common response: “I don’t have nice enough clothing.” The heart of this response keeps people away in every culture: the fear of judgment, the rags of shame and the scars of old stones.

The Jesus-revolution launched a new way and a new community, an upside-down kingdom where all are invited to the table. It is a place where the poor are treasured and orphans find a home. It is a feast where earthly royalty and blue-collar tradesmen are peers. Every man-made hierarchy is crushed under the shared need to be born again and saved by grace.

I challenge you to read the gospels and note the times that Jesus is at a table or sharing a meal. Consider one example from the Gospel of Matthew:

^“As Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.” Matthew 9:10

The table where Jesus wanted to be and the people he attracted and welcomed were not just the well-dressed and well-adjusted. This new community is radically different from old models, simply because everyone is invited: the religious leader and the woman caught in adultery; the wealthy tax agent and the widow who gave a penny.

Most expected the promised Messiah to wage a physical war against political oppression. Instead, Jesus pursued our hearts and laid ruin to the walls of prejudice and pride.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Colossians 3:28 & 29

This is unconditional love. This mosaic of grace defines us; it does not count every idea as equal or imply that we don not stand on a strong foundation of truth. Rather, it means that we are united not by our backgrounds, preferences or ideals, but in the fact that we are all broken people in need of the unconditional love of God.

The great equalizer is our need. The great provision is unconditional love. Jesus destroys the hierarchies of this world and sets a chair for everyone at the feast. You need not be from the right background, have nice clothes or have kept the rules to be invited. Come as you are. The table is available to you.

A passionate worship leader and gifted songwriter, Andy Needham is a devoted champion for the local church. Beyond his role with the Andy Needham Band he serves as a speaker, consultant, coach and worship leader. In 2015, the Andy Needham Band will serve as the Worship Band at Youth Unlimited’s Live It.

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My 51

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 20:48:54 +0000

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For decades there has been an ebb and flow of unity among churches in New England. It seems the water is rising again!

Student ministries gathered for a few hours to advance unity and intentionally create synergy among churches.

It sounds way too cliché to paint the evening as an event full of fun, food and fellowship, but those were on the surface the entire time and it just felt right. There was a sense of belonging and affirmation. It seemed like everyone in the room that Friday night was saying, “This is my night. This is my time with the Body of Christ. This is my act of worship. This is my life for him. This is one week I will end in praise.”

What about the other 51 weeks of the year? That was the challenge. How do we live a life of true worship and help others grow close to Christ?

If fellowship was on the surface that night, then true worship and the Word were present on the deeper level.

Bryan Weigers of New England Chapel spoke from his heart that night emphasizing, “You are loved.” He shared his own hard times. Recently, one of his daughters needed 11 surgeries in one year. His other daughter broke her back. He suffered a broken neck. All this took place within months of each other. Yet God saw his family through the hard times. Bryan urged students to sign on for a “4G Experience With God” for every week of the year.

Grieve when you’re going through a hard time.
Group up with other followers of Christ. Make sure you don’t isolate yourself.
Give it up to God. Dedicate the struggle to him. Even give thanks for how he is working when you can’t yet see how he is.
Give to others. Even when you’re hurting you have much to give and God will use you to help others.

The Andy Needham Band led worship, introducing a new song that became an anthem for the night called, “Love is the Song”. Another song that resounded with the message of the evening was “O Great Love”, which is a great reminder that the deep and abiding love of God has far reaching effects on our lives. To listen to the song, watch the video below.

Annika Bangsma, a catalyst for the event, said,

“It has been my prayer that ‘youth ministry’ wouldn’t consist of just one lone youth worker striving to do the impossible, but a community endeavor both within and between churches to help adopt teens into the body of Christ—and thus become an endeavor full of relationships, accountability, joy and belonging.

It is for this reason that Bryan and I are both big fans of Youth Unlimited events, as we feel that they are great opportunities for students to grow in their relationships with Christ and with others.

Bryan and I had already planned to attend the Youth Unlimited Live It convention this summer with our groups, and thus when we found out that Andy Needham Band was booked to be the band at Live It, God stirred us a little further. If ANB was coming from our area to go to Chicago, what if we could take all that good stuff that was going to be happening in Chicago this summer –and give our area a little taste of it?

The theme for Live It in Chicago this summer is “The Other 51”, therefore, we decided to take some ownership of that theme, and thus, “My 51” was born: we would plan a night to showcase the band and the opportunities that exist through the Live It experience, while also bringing together area church youth groups and youth groups from throughout our classis (Vermont, Connecticut) for an exciting night of relationship building – both with one another and with our Savior—just like at Live It. As such, we used some basics from the Live It playbook – a dynamic night of worship, telling Christ’s story, and social time for youth to connect with one another and their leaders; and were very excited at the results.

Many from the group in Massachusetts and the Andy Needham Band plan to meet at Youth Unlimited’s Live It which is a one week convention beginning July 21, 2015, at Trinity Christian College.

For a free download of “O Great Love” by the Andy Needham Band to help inspire others through their 51, fill out the form below.

Oops! We could not locate your form.

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How Many Students Does it Take

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 23:32:52 +0000

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I’m often asked how many students participate in Serve each summer. Here’s the short but powerful answer:

First, recognize that students and adults participate in Serve and the three major points of impact include:

The Host Church- The Host Church prays about how to creatively share the Gospel with their community and mobilize their congregation into the community. This isn’t just a one-week outreach or even three months of planning. Community outreach and home missions is written into the DNA of the Host Church, so the student workforce during this one week helps to enhance and advance what the congregation does throughout the year.

The Community – Persons in every community across North America are praying that God would meet their needs. Some of those needs are tangible, work-related projects that have a significant bearing on that person’s financial, social and emotional well being. Those people and organizations see the Church in action. They see teenagers as doers of the Word and not hearers only. Plus, the people receiving the work share their life story and perspective so their strengths are seen and not just their needs.

The Students and Youth Leaders – The Students and Youth Leaders who register have been praying about how to expand their worldview and fulfill the Great Commission. They are invited to serve the Host Church and community for one week then urged to go back and engage more fully with their own congregation to reach people down the street and around the world.

For more on Serve Outcomes in these areas of impact, click here to download a one-page summary.

Now here’s the break down of participants. These are approximates and on the conservative side (I never like to be “evangelistic” in my numbers):

1,700 students and youth leaders
400 Host Church volunteers
1,700 Host Church Prayer Partners
2,400 Sending Church Prayer and Financial Partners
5,600 people receiving help and sharing their life perspective with students

10,000 plus participate in Serve each summer directly connected to a church.

That last part, “directly connected to a church”, is vital to Youth Unlimited. Serve is not a student mission trip where student groups “show up, blow up and blow out”. Everyone participating is or can be relationally connected to a long-term ministry. With Youth Unlimited, it’s all about faith for life.

If you’ve been on Youth Unlimited’s Serve and have a story of impact you’d like to share, please email Mandi at Mandi@youthunlimited.org.

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A Look Ahead to Live It 2015

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 06:54:02 +0000

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Youth Unlimited is excited for Live It 2015 and the opportunity to engage with high school age students at their point of interests and passions once again so they can learn about their value in Christ while exploring how to use their talents to spread God’s love to their friends, community and world. Watch the video below for a look ahead to Live It 2015!

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The Church in the Park

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 13:56:12 +0000

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Unity, worship, power, witness… those and many more words could be used to describe some of what God is doing in Peterborough, Ontario.

A few years ago, our church and youth group set out to extend our ministry and our presence into the community by loving others genuinely and intentionally outside the walls of our church building. We realized that as much as we talked about being changed and affecting change, effectiveness would rely on being intentional enough that we would actually leave what’s comfortable (i.e.: our building) and move into the community.

With this in mind, we began regularly canceling “youth group as usual” and organized service nights, connecting with service providers in our community, working to serve those who serve others. As we did that, we ran into unexpected co-workers… brothers and sisters from the church down the road. I walked into the “The Bridge”, a youth drop in for street involved kids in our city. And there was Jim, the youth pastor from Ferndale Bible Church. As we looked at each other and tried to figure out what each other was doing there, we laughed as we realized that we had booked the same service night at the same place on the same week. After that exact thing happened a second time, we figured that God was up to something.

One of the great things about ministry in our city is the connections and unity we experience. It’s an amazing thing to know, support and love others who are kingdom workers here in Peterborough. Church in the City is an organized group of pastors and ministries who pray for and with each other, work together for the common mission of Christ in our city. Jim and I know each other, know each other’s church and trust the call that God has placed in our hearts.

A year later, Jim and I found ourselves co-hosting Youth Unlimited’s Serve week together, celebrating the mission that God has not only placed each of us on, but placed us on together. We kicked off Peterborough Serve 2014 in the middle of Peterborough, the city God has called both our churches to. We held our Sunday service in a downtown park, overlooking the marina on Little Lake: in the same place that just the night before had been the location of Peterborough’s twice weekly free music concert series. In the middle of our community, Ferndale, Living Hope and all our Serve participants sang praises to our God and were commissioned to serving faithfully and enthusiastically for the whole week!

Amazing work was done, we were able to bless some families in their homes and draw alongside all of the same service providers that we had initially begun serving.  We even got to send teams to The Bridge for fresh paint and a new look! We also dove deep into what poverty really looks like in our world, and specifically, in our town.

There was some great work done, and not a small part of that work was the binding of hearts of God’s people, on mission.

If you want to get your student ministry out of the church building, download this youth group curriculum called, “Kingdom Living By Mere Mortals”. It is seven sessions based on Isaiah 58 that will educate, inspire and inform your group. It is suggested that your speaker watch the LIVE 58 Film and clips of that film in this series. See LIVE58.org after downloading and reading through the curriculum.

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Where are They Now?

ThereforeGo Ministries — Sat, 04 Oct 2014 17:16:37 +0000

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Calvin Theological Seminary’s Facing Your Future and Youth Unlimited have been longstanding partners in ministry. Several of those involved in the Facing Your Future program, including some of which are mentioned below, were former Serve participants, interns at Youth Unlimited or are current Host Church leaders. Youth Unlimited it proud to see the impact that this program is having on those involved.

July 31, 2014 — “I’m fairly certain that without Facing Your Future, I would not have gone into ministry, and Encounter Church would not exist. As a result, several hundred people would not have a church they call their home today,” said Dirk VanEyk, a church planter and lead pastor at Encounter Church in Kentwood, Mich.

Twelve years ago as a high school student, at the recommendation of his youth pastor, VanEyk looked into the theology and ministry program at Calvin Theological Seminary by participating in a program called Facing Your Future (FYF).

It turned out to be an unforgettable experience.

For Laura de Jong, who has finished her first of four years in the M.Div. program at Calvin Theological Seminary, FYF was six summers ago. It was “incredibly formative for some of the fundamental things I believe and ways I live my life,” de Jong said.

“It was the first time I’d come across the idea of spiritual disciplines or incorporating a rhythm. . . . I still remember discovering the idea that being busy means you have less capacity to love.”

Three weeks of living in college dormitories with peers and taking a trip to Turkey is what drew Sarah Steen Schreiber to FYF 13 years ago as a high school student, but the opportunity to explore vocational ministry was also compelling.

For Steen Schreiber, who now finds herself back on her old stomping grounds as the newly appointed assistant professor of Old Testament at Calvin Seminary, having mentors—Christian adults walking with her and speaking truth into her life—and the friendships she formed with her FYF peers were the striking points of the program.

She has come full circle and now serves as one of the FYF instructors.

So what is this program that has been so formative and important for these individuals who began their journeys in and toward vocational ministry while still in high school?

FYF coordinator Jessica Driesenga, a Calvin Seminary M.Div. grad and Ph.D. candidate at Fuller Theological Seminary, names four goal areas for FYF: theological, vocational, spiritual, and relational. The expectation is for FYF participants to experience growth in each of these—both as individuals and as a community.

Students nominated and selected for FYF are high school juniors and seniors in whom their Christian leaders have seen gifts for leadership, service, and perhaps vocational ministry. After being accepted into the program, FYF students begin their journey.

First there are books to read: books on Reformed theology and confessions, on spiritual disciplines, and on story.

In early July, they arrive at Calvin Seminary. The first 10 days are spent living on campus in a residence hall and “doing life” like a seminary student. They sit under the teaching of seminary professors, engaging topics from Missio Dei to eschatology to the Apostles’ Creed to CRC church governance. They also learn to practice spiritual disciplines in small groups with their peers, led by a live-in leader who is a current Calvin Seminary student.

During this on-campus segment, they also engage with the city of Grand Rapids. The first Sunday morning is spent in worship with a local congregation; other congregations in the area provide lunch and dinner each day back on campus.

The first 10 days culminate in Bridge Day, an day of outreach and engagement in downtown Grand Rapids. Students practice and witness the connection between theology and ministry in the classroom and life on the street.

During the second 10 days of FYF, students participate in an excursion. Divided into three groups and led by two live-in leaders, they travel to another part of North America to engage a ministry context different from what they know, serving with and learning from a pastor and a church community.

FYF 2014 students traveled to Austin, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Roseland in Chicago, Ill.

The Austin group witnessed and explored what ministry looks like in a post-Christian and eclectic society.

In Salt Lake City, where Mormonism is the dominant religious and cultural tradition, the group engaged in Mormon-orthodox Christian dialogue and ministry with a local church.

The Roseland group learned what it means to be ministers of reconciliation in a racially taut environment on the south side of Chicago, formerly a significant CRC enclave.

Of the several books each student and leader reads before FYF begins, one is specific to the context of the excursion she or he will take. This helps prepare them for what they will encounter when they are outside their comfort zones.

The idea of high school students thinking and engaging deeply in all manner of theological topics may sound forced–until you sit with some FYF students and hear them pondering together the “intermediate state,” or what it means to live and work for the coming kingdom of God, or racial reconciliation in divided communities.

Then it becomes clear that, although FYF participants are young, their roots go deep, their experiences in God’s world and Word are broadening their hearts, and their longing for and questions of God are keen.

FYF provides both space and a place for young people who are interested in theology, leadership, service, and vocational ministry to be with like-minded and often like-hearted peers. It is three weeks of learning, practicing, playing, and living with people who may become good friends for years to come.

This was true for Derek Buikema. “The people were incredibly significant. I hadn’t experienced that depth of friendship before FYF,” Buikema said. Even though the friendships were forged 11 years ago while he was in high school, he still keeps in regular contact with his two closest friends from FYF. Buikema received his M.Div. from Westminster Seminary and is now the preaching pastor at Orland Park CRC in Illinois.

The program has a tangible impact on participants. FYF alumni have gone on to pursue theology in their undergraduate and graduate studies and are pastoring churches or ministering in other vocations.

To Driesenga, the facet of the program that stands out is its emphasis on discipleship. From practicing spiritual disciplines with small groups that provide both accountability and encouragement, to living together in a residence hall, to eating, worshiping, and being in lectures together, the program is built on the notion that life as Christian community, “participating in the life of the church,” facilitates faith formation and growth.

The students selected for FYF are often mature beyond their years, as well as curious and inquisitive about God, faith, and life. They get to explore these things together for three formative weeks.

But lest anyone think it a dour kind of summer endeavor, students and leaders also love FYF because it’s fun.

“Often, theology and theological study can be presented as dull, bookish, and overwhelmingly serious work,” Driesenga said. “Theology is serious, but it’s also fun! While we take God seriously in this program, we don’t take ourselves too seriously.”

For Adrian de Lange, a recent Calvin Seminary graduate, FYF was an opportunity to wrestle with his future. “I left FYF with a much clearer sense of God’s leading and with serious excitement for God’s work in the world and for my ability to be a part of it!” he said. De Lange recently accepted a call to serve at New Life Church in Grand Junction, Colo.

While FYF is especially well-suited for students with gifts and callings for vocational ministry, young people who want to work in other fields also pass happily—and beneficially—through the program.

When Lauren Riemersma was an FYF student in 2008, she wrestled with a sense of calling to both health care and youth ministry. Today, she has achieved her B.S. degree in nursing and is pursuing a master’s degree in youth and family ministries at Calvin Seminary and is actively seeking where God would use her next.

Ben Hoekman took the FYF journey in 2013 and will begin his second year of undergraduate study at Kuyper College this fall. FYF “played an incredible role in helping me discern my calling for ministry,” Hoekman said. “I am incredibly excited to see where God is going to lead me in my future.

“While God has not seemed to lay out my calling piece by piece for the exact vocational setting I’d like to work in, FYF has encouraged me to broaden the spectrum of these possibilities, allowing me to discern a number of ministry settings where I can be made available to use my gifts for his kingdom,” Hoekman said.

This is the goal of FYF: to give young people a place, space, and time to build relationships with other students in community; to deeply engage theology and ministry and to experience it on the ground in different contexts; and to discern where God might have them serve.

Students grow in Spirit and in truth, and at the end of the three weeks are eager to give themselves to God’s service. It’s a wonderful thing.

Click here to view the original posting of this article. Article supplied by Joella and the “Together Doing More” section of The Banner.

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Life Changing Experiences

ThereforeGo Ministries — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 18:09:11 +0000

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Did the students you took on Serve (or another faith-forming experience) this summer return home with an experience and a teaching that will forever impact how they live their lives? Hopefully your answer is a yes that causes you to celebrate God’s goodness. I know my life was forever changed by a trip I took back in 2011.

I will never forget my hike up Mount Azekah and the teaching I received while sitting up there under a shade tree over looking the Elah valley. The Elah valley is where Israel faced the Philistine army and where David killed Goliath.

One of the many things I learned that day was how this battle was really not about David or Goliath, but rather how God used them to reveal himself. God, through David’s gift and ability (the use of a slingshot), showed how he is greater than any other god. There is many times when I reflect back on that teaching and am reminded how God can reveal himself through me if I am willing to be used.

I believe trips and experiences like the ones created by Youth Unlimited (and many others) can be such a powerful tool to teach, train and point students to the love of Jesus Christ and the joy found in living for him. Therefore, in this issue we are eager to lay out our 2015 summer youth group opportunities.

Many congregations throughout Canada and the United States who are living missionally, will again host a Youth Unlimited Serve mission experience next summer. Our theme for 2015 will be, “The Other 51”, focusing on what it means to live for Jesus after returning home. It will be based on John 20:21-22 where it says, “Again Jesus said, Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. And with that he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit”.

The Live It experience, an event where students learn about their value in Christ while exploring how to use their talents to spread God’s love to their friends, community and world, returns in 2015 as well. It will be hosted at Trinity Christian College, near Chicago, IL. Just like Serve, Live It will also use the theme, The Other 51.

As you begin a new year of ministering to students through your church, know that the Youth Unlimited staff will faithfully pray for you as well as be working hard to create those faith-forming experiences that will assist you with such an important calling. If we can assist you in any other way, please ask!

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Mentor for Life

ThereforeGo Ministries — Wed, 30 Jul 2014 17:12:01 +0000

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I’m a new youth pastor at Trinity CRC. I started last September, and I absolutely love it. It’s a dream job. I would do it for free if I could afford it. One of the big parts of my job is mentoring. I started taking out my youth for lattes and lunches and although it was fantastic – it was overwhelming: There were so many youth!

I attended a conference in Vancouver and went to a breakout session on mentoring. I heard a lot of stories of people who were mentored and had great memories and experiences. It was meant to be an encouraging session, but I walked away sad. I was sad because I wanted so badly to give all of my youth those experiences but I couldn’t. I was limited. I was limited on time, meaning I wasn’t going to be able to develop a deep relationship with every single one of my youth. There were too many and I might not have connected well with all of them. I was also limited because I’m a woman and I wanted all the guys in my youth group to have a guy that they could talk to about “guy things”.

When I came back to Edmonton, I was wrestling and praying with how to mentor more efficiently when I had a fantastic idea that I believe was inspired by the Holy Spirit: I can’t do it, but the church can.

The idea of the mentorship program blossomed from there: I would pair up all the youth with someone from our church – a guy with a guy and a girl with a girl. They would be responsible for building deep relationships with the youth.

I began emailing and calling some of the people that I knew would be great mentors. The response I received was wonderful and I knew I had enough volunteers to get started. I began forming what the program would look like – focusing on simplicity and joy. When I was finished, I met with a youth ministry consultant who further encouraged me. I remember him looking at the program and calling it “gold”. This assured me again that I was following the Holy Spirit.

He gave me a few pointers and agreed to be a part of the mentor training. We went over the program with all of the volunteers and paired them all up with the youth, starting with grade 7.

Right now we have a total of 19 mentors who are roughly between the ages of 20 and 30. They are paired up with kids from grades 7 to 10 and some in grades 11 and 12. The mentors were all told that it is a lifelong commitment. The main goal and purpose is to love their youth and do life with them. Their main responsibilities are: praying for their kid, saying hi to them every Sunday, and hanging out with them once a month.

The volunteers are not just mentors though. They are disciples making disciples. The program starts in grade 7 and “ends” in grade 12. When I say it “ends” in grade 12, I mean I will stop holding them accountable after that and just assume and trust they will naturally be in their lives. The first 2 years (grades 7-8) is simple relationship building. The next few years (grades 9-11) we have a bible reading plan. The last year will focus on apologetics. Although we have this in the program, nothing is set in stone – the rule is to follow the Holy Spirit. Some mentors have said that rather than reading the Bible, they would prefer to do topical Bible studies. Great!

Another major aspect of our program is our prayer partners. We have people in our church who have committed to pray for a handful of our mentors on a regular basis. They are also instrumental in this program.

For the most part, this program has flourished. Some of the mentors have a hard time hanging out once a month because of their schedules, but they make more of an effort to call and email or to talk more on Sundays. The mentors are going to kid’s basketball games, taking them to movies, going for walks in the river valley – someone even took their kid to the Harlem Globetrotters game!

Because this is the first time we are doing this, they were told to expect kinks and we would just talk them out and get better. It’s not a perfect program, and it’s not meant to be. It’s meant to be joyful. It’s meant to be meaningful. It’s meant to glorify God.

Below are some quotes from some of the mentors currently involved in the program:

“I find it challenging but interesting to get to know my kid, to help her and myself grow in Christian faith together is something I look forward to.”

“Being a mentor creates opportunities for both the mentor and the mentee to explore and grow in their faith. It allows the mentor to provide encouragement and advice to the mentee, in which the aim is to promote a lifelong relationship with Jesus Christ.”

“What I like so much about the mentorship program is that it is set up to be long-term. Although our relationship is still pretty new, I think there is a lot to look forward to. It’s not always easy to find things to talk about with someone you barely know, but I’m having a lot of fun just being there for her. I’ve started out just getting to know my mentee, but I hope to be able to develop a spiritual partnership as well as a friendship. The mentorship gives me a chance to connect with someone who is going through a life-stage that I have been through. I wish that when I was girl in junior high, I had someone who was older (and not my mom) to talk to and ask all my questions. I want to be that person for my mentee, and hopefully it just becomes natural.”

“When asked if I would like to mentor a young girl at church, I was a bit hesitant, as it was completely out of my comfort zone. I took on the challenge and I am so glad that I did. I have started to get to know a beautiful, young girl who has taught me more about the innocence of our youth, a need for leaders and to love as Christ loved. God has blessed me through her quiet disposition and sensitive spirit. As Betty Ramsay said, ‘We all know investing in our young people makes good sense. The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow and will shape the destiny of our country and the future of their children and so on and so on'”

“Starting and maintaining a relationship can be challenging even amongst people of similar age. Having just recently started the mentorship program, it’s going to take some time to establish a mutual trust. The biggest challenge for me so far has been to be in contact with my mentee frequently enough that the level of trust and familiarity grows. With some effort on my part and some help from God, I hope to continue to grow our relationship so that I can be a positive influence on my mentee’s life.”

“I really enjoy being able to share my experiences and advice and watch my mentee grow in all aspects of life. I am blessed to be part of her journey and excited to see where God takes her.”

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Keeping the Flame Alive

ThereforeGo Ministries — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 16:52:27 +0000

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We’re all about faith for life and don’t want to see students or youth leaders riding a roller coaster of emotions on a mission trip or faith forming experience. Here’s a great article by a well respected leader in the short term mission movement on fanning the flame of life change once you return home.

Most people like to play with fire. There’s something rewarding about burning long sticks until they’re short, melting things, roasting things, or just sitting and watching the flames. But if there is insufficient kindling, the fire will not ignite; and if there is too much wind, the flame will go out. Even so, keeping the flame alive is really not that tricky. By having the right resources and providing enough protection for the flame, it will keep burning (or even grow to a bonfire) and will give off light and warmth that people like to be near. If your experience in missions has allowed God to light a fire under you, or to fan the flame, then add more kindling, add more wood, and make sure you protect the fire from things that will put it out or slow it down.

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

There are many things you can do to keep the flame alive and to continue to be a LIGHT in the world. Here are some practical steps you can take to stay on track spiritually and in ministry.

L = Live Differently

Do you know what will keep your short-term mission from becoming just another mountain-top experience in your life? You. Only you can determine if you will continue the amazing journey of growing nearer to the Lord and of being a blessing to others. For this to happen, you must take on that responsibility and be intentional about your continuing journey.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do no conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:1-2).

You’ve learned valuable lessons through Scripture and experience. Putting these lessons into practice may cost you something, but consider it in light of God’s mercy as a living sacrifice and as an act of worship to him.

I = Invest in the Mission Field

You can be a great encouragement to your ministry hosts by keeping in touch with them. Write letters, send birthday cards, pray for them, and join their financial support team.

G = Guard Your Mind

The things you allow into your mind have an impact on the way you live. A steady stream of less-than-wholesome television, movies, books, and music will affect your attitude and will rob you of the joy you have in Christ. Since you might not see any effect at first, it might feel as if you are “getting away with it.” However, in the long run you will find that it is like a slow leak. Eventually there will be a blowout, and you will find yourself out of commission spiritually. Remember the old saying, “garbage in, garbage out”? The Bible says, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7).

An open mind is good. So is an open window. However, we put a screen on the window to keep the bugs out. Treat your mind like a window and screen what you allow in.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8).

H = Hide God’s Word in Your Heart

Stay consistent in the study and memorization of the Bible. A diligent effort to know God’s Word better will result in a vibrant growing relationship with him. In addition, you can read inspirational missionary biographies that will remind you of the great things God can do with a life that is totally surrendered to him.

T = Take Risks—Stay Out of Your Comfort Zone

Decide right now that you are not just at the end of your short-term mission but actually at the beginning of a new ministry. Plan to live in a way that will continue to stretch you beyond the level of faith you now have. Put your trust in God. Seek to hear his voice and to obey and put into practice all that you have learned. Radical living encourages radical faith!

Do you realize that walking actually requires that you set yourself off balance? As you put one foot in front of the other, you are literally tipping forward—off balance. If you never took the risk of being off balance, you’d be stuck in one place. It’s like that in life and faith. The act of “stepping out” and getting a little off balance is the very act that allows you to move forward spiritually. Think about the big steps you took in deciding to go on this short-term mission (STM) and look how you’ve grown! So keep taking risks, following God’s wild imagination, and being in the place where you will only succeed if you trust in him and him alone.

Do you need some ideas on how to proceed? Want to know what it looks like to step out in faith? The rest of this article will help you take the next step in ministry.

Outreach and Evangelism

“Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2).

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

We have a job to do here on earth. With love, patience, and respect, we are to speak up for what we believe and for who we are in Christ. Hopefully you have new found courage after your STM because you’ve spent time with people who are courageous and outspoken about their faith. Determine in your heart today that you will keep that fire burning in you and that outreach will become an ever-increasing part of your lifestyle.

When it comes to outreach and evangelism, there are two categories of Christians. The first category is those who are bound up in the activities and pressures of the day. They’re always on the backside of the things that they believe “happen to them.” They are wrapped up in their performance at work or school, running errands, fixing things, trying to stay in touch with people, but always too busy to do so. To them, life practically drowns out the fact that they are Christians. They are the ones who always say, “Spiritual things just never seem to come up at work.”

Then there is the category of Christians whose faith seems to just flow from life’s activities. They, too, live a hectic life, but somehow they have a fruitful influence in the lives of people around them. They are the ones who, because of their lifestyle, have people asking them about spiritual things.

There is a fundamental difference. To the first kind of Christian, Christianity has taken a back seat. To them, what they do is more important than their Christian faith. To the second kind of Christian, faith and responsibility to God are always in first place. Higher than a career. Higher than acceptance or fitting in. And higher than any circumstances. Ask yourself the following question by inserting your profession or life activity into the blank:

“Am I a __________ who happens to be a Christian or a Christian who happens to be a __________?”

Christians who “happen” to go to school or have a certain job will always place their faith and the responsibility to touch lives for Christ first. Their perspective is that God put them in that school, workplace, or situation because he wanted to affect the lives of those he has entrusted to their care. If you want to live a God-centered life, plan to live your life as a Christian first. If your relationship with Christ is your first concern and you are always looking to become more like him, your spiritual walk will deepen and grow.

This will add strength to your commitment to ministry, and he will use you to influence people all along the way.

Find Ministry in the Church, Community, and World

The continual, joyful giving of yourself for the sake of God’s kingdom purposes will help you maintain a close walk with him. Now that you are home, seek out opportunities to serve in the church, community, and world. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

Pray for discernment and eyes to see whatever God might be asking of you. It may be possible to join an existing ministry effort. But if it isn’t, don’t let a lack of opportunity slow you down—you may need to start something new. Jolaine started a weekly park outreach with a youth ministry team and it lasted for three years. Curtis started an evangelism committee at his church and it is still fruitful today. Darla inspired her church to reach out to the Japanese population in their city. Today there is a Japanese church within their church. Carl left his job and started a company that provides technical support to Christian organizations. As a result, the efforts of each organization are multiplied and there is a much greater impact for the kingdom.

Here are some other possibilities to spur on your creativity:

Ministry in the Church

Help with the youth or children’s ministry
Be a part of the worship team
Volunteer to be on the missions committee
Have a ministry of prayer
Take part in visitation, neighborhood outreach, and evangelism
Get involved in men’s or women’s ministry
Become a Bible study leader or Sunday school teacher

Ministry in the Community

Organize an annual neighborhood clean-up day
Get involved with local leadership in schools and other public arenas
Have a cross-cultural outreach to ethnic groups in your city or town
Lead Bible studies
Do a park outreach
Help at a weekly soup kitchen, food bank, or clothes closet for the poor
Get involved in campus outreach
Host a kid’s club or Vacation Bible School

Ministry in the World

Adopt a Bibleless people or an unreached people group
Organize a prayer vigil on behalf of a ministry, mission, country, or church
Support missionaries
Organize future STMs
Begin the process of becoming a mid-term or long-term missionary

Seek God and listen carefully as you choose the things you will be involved in now that you have returned home. Trust him for creativity, availability, and resources to do whatever he calls you to, wherever, and whenever.

From ShortTermMissions.com.

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Riding the Wave, Part 3 of 3

ThereforeGo Ministries — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 16:05:52 +0000

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Paddling out into the waves is necessary, hard work. Setting an environment for students to make the most of the momentum they gain at a faith-forming experience is very similar to this. Here are some tips/reminders for your faith-forming experience preparation:

Be sure to emphasize “life transformation”, not “behavior modification”. A transformation is lasting, where a modification is not always so.
Use language that communicates that this faith-forming experience is not the end all, but is a “life changing experience” and there will be more life changing experiences. (This is just one of many.)
Just like parents have a hard time understanding that they are the primary influence in a teen’s life, a lot of church youth leaders think that the guest speaker or the counselor at camp is the one that built the momentum. We all know that the glory is God’s alone, but he is also using you as a key factor in the transformation. Don’t overestimate an event/excursion/experience and don’t underestimate it. It is part of the life journey and is made more effective with your planning for each stage.
Set up non-attenders for inclusion and growth too. If a student chooses to forego their youth group’s event, consider that it may be part of their calling. Release them from false guilt and bless their ministry wherever they may be during that time. Let them share in youth group when they get back. If you cannot bless where they are going then at least bless what God is doing in their life.In addition to the students who are unable to attend, figure out how to involve the adults, children and the rest of the congregation as well beyond the final trip report.
Outline your desired outcomes—your expectations and measuring points for the Host Receiver, the Senders and the Goers, etc. and communicate those to parents and prayer partners.
Plant seeds of the theme or concepts of the event 8-10 weeks before and 4-6 weeks after to aid in the process of progressive life change.
Never work alone. Jesus sent disciples out two by two even to get a donkey tied to a tree! Ask veterans who’ve planned similar events in the past for suggestions, tips and tricks. Get members of your congregation involved as prayer partners or assisting in other areas of need.

The wave is spiritual momentum for growth and development. It’s important to work toward setting the right environment for this to take place at all stages of the event process from planning to execution to post-trip.

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Riding the Wave, Part 2 of 3

ThereforeGo Ministries — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 15:47:52 +0000

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Recognizing some myths youth leaders and/or students believe about faith-forming experiences can be a big help in not hindering the work of God within extended events, and instead keeping the momentum going, or helping students ride the wave.

The following three myths often come to the forefront of faith-forming experiences:

The big waves matter most: Sometimes we set ourselves, our church, and/or our students up for disappointment because we put so much emphasis on the event. We minimize our week-to-week programming and relationships when that is the very thing that props up the extended event.
High tide only comes a couple times per year: We think big churches with lots of resources and staff or parachurch ministries that specialize in wave making are the ones that help our students most. This is false. It’s the youth leader who is there day after day in the students’ lives and the church community.
Ride as much as you like, you’ll end up in the same place: Have you seen your high school Seniors or Juniors abandon an annual event? Sometimes they don’t have an interest in going after they’ve been there 2-3 years, because it feels like nothing new. Some become loyal fans and love it and others despise it. No two events are the same whether they are meant to be similar or not.

In addition to recognizing the myths, you also need to focus on what you are trying to accomplish. Here are a few primary purposes to help build confidence in riding the waves God gives us through extended faith-forming experiences. Most likely, your retreat/camp/conference/trip has one of these as its primary purpose:

Growth: Similar to farming, growth is a process. You plant seeds, water them, wait, cultivate (remove hindrances), wait some more, eventually harvest and repeat.
Training: Sports training is also a process. You have to work out, to hurt a little bit, to eat right, and to cross train, and still, no one increases weights by 25 lbs. at a time, but rather 1-2 lbs.
Leadership development: It seems that Ministry Training and Leadership Development may need a longer, more detailed post-trip plan than spiritual growth. Typically, our ongoing programming is focused on spiritual growth so you can weave the experience into that programming very simply after returning home. Ministry training and leadership development may take a much more intentionally structured post-trip plan.

Therefore, your church relationships and ongoing programming are the key to developing spiritual growth and it’s important to stray away from the myths or pre-conceived notions that might hold you or your students back. It might not be a bad idea to reflect on your own faith-forming experiences. How did they play a positive part in your spiritual growth or development as a student?

To be continued…

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Riding the Wave, Part 1 of 3

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 15:30:34 +0000

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There’s nothing quite like the sound of waves. We typically like to think of that sound as soothing, but in some situations, it could send your fight or flight mechanism into chaos.

When you view a big wave from a distance and you are ready for it as it approaches, you can get lost in a sense of awe and appreciation, taking it in with your whole being: seeing, touching, hearing, smelling and tasting, for a truly amazing experience. On the other hand, if a wave catches you off guard, you might remember the tossing, scraping, churning, choking, sand-in-every-crevice feeling for a long time. Waves can be a great blessing or a brutal reminder. With their power and majesty they can cause appreciation or disillusionment.

Similar to that image, a youth event of two or more days can cause a wave of impact that reaches a student emotionally, socially, physically and intellectually. When we send a student home from what they thought was a weekend or one-week event, they may feel like a huge wave has come. It can be full of spiritual adrenalin, but will an environment have been set for them to make the most of that momentum?

Though we realize we cannot create spiritual momentum, we can set an environment for God to stir the hearts of students. We can follow best practices while planning so we don’t hinder the work of God, but we really can’t make it last or keep it going after the immediate situation is over. Once students go back to their day-to-day lives, we cannot keep that ongoing fire for them.

What we can do is plan with excellence. We all realize that it’s possible to have a bad retreat, camp, mission trip, etc., so let’s start with a few questions to ponder:

If you were the enemy of the Kingdom of God and knew that churches were going to keep sending kids to youth events or faith-forming experiences, how would you attempt to mess it up? What could you want the churches or students to believe that would do more harm than good?
Do we set students up for difficult transitions back into “real life”? Have you seen students respond both ways (spiritually thriving and crashing and burning) a week or month after going home? Is it possible for even great retreats, camps or mission trips to have a negative effect on students in the long run?

To be continued…

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Shout it Aloud

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 12:02:52 +0000

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“Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet.” –Isaiah 58:1a

May this be your prayer, today and every day:

God, you are holy, loving and just. I want to walk with you in the adventure of transforming this world. Pursuing justice and caring for the poor are central to your heart and will be integral to the way I think, pray, act, hope, believe, work, spend, live, and love.

I will seek to help a community of people (my church) live out the full gospel message. We will share the good news of Jesus in both word and deed. We long to serve together as a worldwide alliance of Christ followers in unprecedented unity with our families and friends, in our neighborhoods and communities and with people around the world.

Thanks to LIVE58.org for the use of the icons and this suggested prayer.

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The Coming Revolution in Missions

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 16:47:44 +0000

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“Revolution” is a huge word. It sounds like painted faced warriors crying “freeeeedom”. That’s not what I mean. This is the “revolution” that a wheel takes, a moving forward. It could happen fast or slow but it is happening. If it doesn’t happen, we’re stuck and everyone needs to get out and push, which is messy but necessary sometimes.

In the church I grew up in, THE mission question was, “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?” The only proper responses were, “Here I am. Send me”, or to put money in the offering. Now the mission question is, “How are you involved?” There’s a wide variety of ways and an entire lifestyle to be developed. Everyone has a next step in missional living. What’s yours?

There is a greater emphasis on:

Wholistic missional living and everyday justice instead of doing tasks or cold evangelism. The Church will be better at connecting the dots of why and how to care for others not just what to get done. We will get greater at verbally sharing the Gospel through life stories and not just spiritual laws.
Co-learning rather than condescending. The book Serving With Eyes Wide Open gives some great principles and tragic illustrations of this.
Relationship above organization. The latter must find their place in serving the organism of the Body of Christ not trying to keep their programs alive.
Short term trips (like Serve) as one mode of involvement and a focusing on many other ways to participate in missions. Life is missions and Jesus is as/more concerned with the other 51 weeks of the year. Short term missions is not a stand alone event. It’s meant to be woven through the spiritual journey to expand the worldview and Godview of the Goer, the Host, and those “receiving” the work. Understanding the types of short-term trips will be essential. There are 8 variables (length, skill set needed, on-field ministry, etc.) that make up thousands of variations. Applying the Standards of Excellence to each type will be essential. (www.soe.org)
A long list of possibilities for mission involvement as unique as the individual.

Missions is about the Church being seen, felt and heard in the trenches of human experience (The Core, Christine Caine). We must continue moving forward toward that objective which is articulated by Jesus in Matthew 28.

There’s a wide variety of ways and an entire lifestyle to be developed. Everyone has a next step in missional living. What’s yours?

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True Religion – More than Justice

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 18:49:21 +0000

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[Adapted from Session 3 of the 2014 Theme Material]

We all love a story in which the dark and ugly turns glorious and good. A story where a creature so hideous no one dared look on it turns into a handsome prince, the cowardly lion takes courage and protects others, Cinderella rises from the mop bucket to become queen and rule kindly, Pinocchio turns into a real boy, Scrooge becomes generous . . . they become everything they never thought they could be – transformed.

As humans we love stories of transformation where a person is not just improved but made new. The story of mankind that God is writing does not end with justice but with transformation.

Micah 6:8 was written to people in need of transformation. Though the book’s tone is one of judgment, the theme of restoration cannot be missed. The God of all creation sees and cares about the most vulnerable and weak. He cares enough to warn his own people that they are also vulnerable and weak. He urges them and we are urged to be humble, to love mercy and to be just. That is, in fact, required by God.

Maybe the simplest way to increase humility and mercy is to intentionally grow in justice. While only God can transform he has clearly stated what he requires from us. Justice is:

Straight Forward: In Isaiah 1 and Micah 5 there are basic commands: stop doing bad and selfish things and do good. Take care of the weak, lift up the poor, free the oppressed and feed the hungry.
A Way of Life: God wants justice – not in fits and starts or here and there. God wants justice to permeate, penetrate and restore people. He wants justice to refresh the weary, to ease the thirst of the downtrodden. God wants justice to wash away injustice. He wants it to soak in and nourish our relationship with one another. Like a never-ending river, God wants justice to flow day and night
Us, Not “Us and Them”: Unfortunately, we often take on a rescuers mentality, but the people we serve are able to teach us much about life and they bear the image of Almighty God. They are to be valued and their skills, gifts and abilities understood to better the community. See https://vimeo.com/25101770.
Using the chainsaw first and then, maybe, the tweezers: We have to confront the beam in our own eye (Luke 6:42). Jesus’ admonition has an almost instant humbling effect reminding us we are in need of transformation.

Our culture of consumerism and greed set us up as “haves and have-nots”. This attitude must not be transferred into our pursuit of a just life. In fact, justice in not what we eagerly await but transformation by God’s grace and Christ’s work. The gospel brings us the opportunity, desire and power to adhere to God’s requirements of humility, mercy and just living.

As mortals we are, by God’s grace and through the work of Christ, being moved from darkness into his light. He is causing us to take courage and teaching us to rule kindly in his kingdom. Part of us must love those stories of transformation and truly find fulfillment in helping others because we long to see God’s complete work in our own lives and world.

For real life stories of how the Gospel is transforming lives around the world be sure to check out World Renew’s website at worldrenew.net.

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Faces Of ThereforeGo – Jen Rozema, Mario Perez and Jillian Bajema

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 18:34:53 +0000

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Jen Rozema

Q. What’s your favorite place to meet with students, and why?

A. I’m going to be bold and say that downtown Holland, MI is one of the best downtowns imaginable. With great local coffee shops, frozen yogurt vendors and restaurants, and a very inviting atmosphere, going downtown is like taking a breather from the rest of life. We always have a great time, and we always bump into other students, which is an added bonus!

Q. What do you do to stay relevant to youth?

A. I actually don’t feel a huge push to stay relevant – really I just feel a huge need to be and stay present in their lives. I’ve found in the past decade of student ministry that students don’t want me to be relevant, they just want me to be consistent; they want me consistently there, and they want to see evidence of me living a consistent life as a God follower.

Q. If your students described you in five words or less, what would they say?

A. Hmmm . . . slightly ridiculous but authentically passionate??

Q. What resource has inspired you for ministry lately?

A. That’s got to be a toss up between In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen and Sustainable Youth Ministry by Mark DeVries.

Q. What do you do in your free time?

A. What’s free time? Just kidding (mostly). Going all-out for people all day, either at church or at home with four children 7 and under, I love carving out a little alone time at the beginning and end of each day. In the morning, before anyone else gets up, I love my quiet time in the Word and prayer while drinking a good cup of tea or coffee. At night, I wind down by taking a run with our Vizla puppy. I also love reading, holistic cooking and just about any outdoor activity.

Q. How do you avoid volunteer burnout?

A. We really share ownership. Sometimes I joke (with a hint of truth) that I work for them as the paper-pusher/secretary of the ministry. In fact, working alongside them in a team ministry model is what helps keep ME from burnout as well! I also encourage them to spend time with students, and open the budget up to them for that, because intentional time with students revitalizes us and keeps us going. Little gestures along the way do help, too, like having leaders and spouses over for a night of fellowship and a gourmet meal on my deck after Serve!

Mario Perez

Q. Where could we find you at 10:00 AM on a Saturday morning?

A. It really depends on the time of year. Most the time, I am at home relaxing from a long week or I am at a local lake fishing. Sometimes I am volunteering at the church for an event or an outreach ministry.

Q. I never leave for youth group without my ____________________.

A. Phone, because I usually get four to six texts right before youth group is starting asking me what we are going to do that night.

Q. If your students described you in five words or less, what would they say?

A. Funny, outgoing, caring, real, honest

Q. What resource has inspired you for ministry lately?

A. There have been a couple things that have inspired me; one was the past youth pastors that I had that were really passionate for youth and always sacrificed for their students. Another resource was a book called In the Name of Jesus by Henri J.M. Nouwen. An absolute read to anyone considering ministry.

Q. Where would you like to travel someday?

A. I would love to travel to Israel one day. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be at the places we read about in the Bible, and to think that Jesus most likely walked on the same ground I am walking on . . . mind blown!

Q. How do you avoid volunteer burnout?

A. I love working in ministry but at times I have to use a tool that my pastor once told me about and that tool is the word “No.” I have learned that I cannot commit to everything and by using that tool it keeps me from getting over committed and tired, which allows me to continue to serve where I am needed.

Jillian Bajema

Q. Where could we find you at 10:00 AM on a Saturday morning?

A. Since I’m a college student and sleep is normally at a premium, you can usually count on me sleeping in or just waking up at 10 AM on a Saturday morning.

Q. What’s your favorite place to meet with students, and why?

A. I love meeting with students at a coffee shop. The environment is welcoming for great discussions that can result in strengthened relationships and challenged, but growing, faith.

Q. What do you do to stay relevant to youth?

A. I still consider myself a youth, but to keep up with the “kids,” I try to take my youth on outings besides the traditional youth group nights. I sometimes find that the farther I am from the regular meeting space, the more open and willing youth are to talk to me about the things they really care about. I also pay attention to what they post about on Facebook and Instagram.

Q. What resource has inspired you for ministry lately?

A. I recently got back from an interim course in Israel. I found new ways to dive into the word. I’m so excited to share the insights I gained from the mission trip with the youth.

Q. What is one website that you visit every day?

A. I have to go with the classics on this one. Definitely Facebook and BuzzFeed. Both of these websites provide an easy way to communicate with and “stay hip” with the younger generation.

Q. How do you avoid volunteer burnout?

A. I avoid volunteer burnout by enjoying the little things my youth do. Whether it is a funny joke, an odd compliment or an unexpected theological question; these are the places I see and feel God and this is where I feel rejuvenated.

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Faces of ThereforeGo – Cathy Tilstra and Linda Bonnier

ThereforeGo Ministries — Wed, 28 May 2014 19:41:55 +0000

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Cathy Tilstra

Q. What do you do to stay relevant to youth?

A. I spend time listening to them, watching their posts on social media, being someone who shows love and support by spending time with them. Youth are seeking meaningful relationships with adults who are authentically engaged with them, who show them they matter and have value. That takes a heart reflecting the image of Christ, and he is eternally relevant.

Q. I never leave for youth group without:

A. My phone, I know I should say my Bible . . . but it’s my phone. I have my Bible on my phone, if that counts.

Q. What do you do in your free time? A. Sleep. Q. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done for a youth group fundraiser?

A. We are far too civilized in Canada to do anything crazy.

Q. Where would you like to travel someday?

A. Europe and Israel. I would love to walk the places Jesus walked, touch the stones he touched, immerse myself in the water he was baptized in.

Linda Bonnier

Q. I never leave for youth group without my:

A. Heart, mind and ears open. Keeping myself open, the students will open up about themselves.

Q. If your students described you in five words or less, what would they say?

A. Happy and kind, consistent, fun.

Q. What do you do in your free time?

A. I love making cards.

Q. Where would you like to travel someday?

A. Greece.

Q. What is one website that you visit every day?

A. Pinterest. I get lots of ideas for our little ones and mid-week programs (and card ideas!)

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Faces of ThereforeGo – Marc Hoogstad and Garrett Hovland

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 26 May 2014 19:33:51 +0000

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Marc Hoogstad

Q. Where could we find you at 10:00 AM on a Saturday morning?

A. At home, finishing my third cup of coffee, and ending our family Saturday morning ritual of pancakes with peanut butter and real Canadian maple syrup.

Q. What’s your favorite place to meet with students, and why?

A. Pizza Hut. It’s fun to see what “All You Can Eat” really means to teens. Especially for the younger guys. “What do you mean, you’re full? You’ve only eaten two slices! Eat, boy!”

Q. What do you do to stay relevant to youth?

A. Hang out with them. And drop youth lingo like “wiggity-wack” as much as possible. The kids dig it, and they think I’m groovy.

Q. What resource has inspired you for ministry lately?

A. Messy Spirituality, by Mike Yaconelli. I read it annually.

Q. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done for a youth group fundraiser?

A. The “non-event” fundraiser. Sell real tickets for a fake dinner that won’t happen, to not be scheduled on a fictitious day (February 30, for example). No commitment from the ticket buyers to attend.

Garrett Hovland

Q. Where could we find you at 10:00 AM on a Saturday morning?

A. I love being outside, so working on a project outside the house, in the barn, or taking care of our animals.

Q. What do you do to stay relevant to youth?

A. I think one of the best ways to stay relevant to youth is to listen to them. Listen to what they talk about, what they like, dislike, etc. This gives you a great view into their world!

Q. I never leave for youth group without my ____________________.

A. Bible and my wife!

Q. What do you do in your free time?

A. I enjoy going for a run, taking walks with my wife, playing any kind of sport and reading a good book.

Q. Where would you like to travel someday?

A. Someday I would like to travel to New Zealand and explore the countryside and see all the different farms.

Q. What is one website that you visit every day?

A. I like checking the Center for Parent and Youth Understanding to keep up to date on what’s going on in the youth ministry world.

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Bridging the Gap

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 12 May 2014 18:57:13 +0000

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Every summer a group of students and leaders from our church embarks on a service opportunity through Youth Unlimited. We have chosen our location carefully, prayed and prepared ourselves for the week ahead. As we gather in the church parking lot—bags full, a bit anxious, unsure of what to expect—we wonder what lies ahead. The series of emotions, experiences, stories, and worship that unfolds throughout the week is invaluable and impactful. There is something about intentionally setting aside our busy lifestyles—cell phones, internet, our usual routines—that allows us to become more fully open to the movement and presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

And then before we know it the week is over. Oftentimes coming home can be a bit disillusioning. We have just had a wonderful faith-forming, relationship-building experience and are left wondering, “Now what?” How do we bring what we have seen and learned back home with us? How do we allow God to continue the work he has started in us?

Our students live in a generally safe and quiet community—most have not encountered hunger, homelessness, addiction, poverty, or broken homes; they live relatively secure lives. One of the reasons a service opportunity is so challenging for our students’ faith is because they must face these issues head-on. Their eyes are opened and their beliefs challenged.

This is why it is often hard to bridge the gap between our service site and our small quiet town. This year—after wrestling with these hard questions for the past few—our youth group is seeking to seize this valuable experience by engaging in service opportunities in our own backyard. We called some local ministries to set up opportunities where we could continue hands on, faith-forming experiences.

Our primary requirement for our locations was that our ministry sites be relationally based instead of task oriented. Our small groups are meeting once a month at these ministry locations hoping to build relationships, share the Good News and encounter God. We are partnering with families and individuals of different ethnicities, abilities and a variety of backgrounds, including past imprisonment, addiction and the effects of age. (Our hope is that these sites will allow our students to implement the lessons they have learned on previous service trips to enhance our own community. This will also help students who will embark on service trips in the future.) Through this experience we are seeing generosity, hospitality, openness, deep faith and wisdom. Our hope is that of Philippians 2—that we would be one in spirit with God, considering others and their interests above our own.

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From Fast and Furious to Just Being: A Serve Story

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 05 May 2014 18:48:29 +0000

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Going on Serve is great. One of my favorite parts about Serve is not the delicious food, not meeting up with new leaders, not joining in the impromptu volleyball games (although all these things are great and inevitably always present in abundance!). I love all these things for sure; but one of my favorite things about Serve is that I get to rent a van.

Yeah, that’s right: I get to rent a van. Great stuff happens in a van full of eager and excited students. There’s the singing, the endless containers of cookies, the stories, the Madlibs, the coloring contests (these are typically very intense), and on and on. These van rides are great! Although, in the interest of full disclosure, one of my greatest joys in these van rides is the fact that I get to drive a big vehicle. Hearing the roar of an engine larger than a puny four-cylinder is quite an experience for a guy who has spent way too much time driving a little Saturn around over the years. Seriously, I have to hold myself back when I leave the rental company’s parking lot so that I don’t peal out right then and there. This unfortunate personality trait is what led to one of our group’s most memorable van rides.

There really should be some kind of exemption. I mean, how do the police really expect a guy like me to go only 65 mph (104 kph) in a great big V8 on the open road? It’s just not fair.

So there we were, riding in our van to Sioux Falls for Serve. We were excited and ready for a week of worship and service. Just a mile north of Mankato, MN, on one of the most beautiful stretches of road in the country (which also happens to be a notorious stretch of highway for pulling over speeding Minnesota Vikings), we passed a policeman hanging out in the median, who promptly turned in behind us and turned on his lights in pursuit.

I was dumbfounded. Here I was with a van full of students, heading out to Serve, and now I had to talk to a policeman about speeding in a rental van that cruised so beautifully down the road. Honestly, with all the energy, sugar, and excitement pumping through that vehicle, I should have been pulled over and given a medal for only going 75 mph, not a ticket.

But it was a ticket I got, and a nice little lecture as a bonus. It was a lesson in humility, and one that my students have never let me forget, especially since I had been pulled over in the middle of North Dakota coming back from Serve a couple years before. I believe I have learned my lesson . . . for now anyway!

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Faces of ThereforeGo – Jeanette Hielkema, Brandon Bajema and Trent Elders

ThereforeGo Ministries — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 18:18:33 +0000

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Jeanette Hielkema

Q: Where could we find you at 10:00 AM on a Saturday morning?

A: Depends on the weather. During the summer I’m out in the gardens. In winter, I’ll be in my favorite chair with a good book and a cup of coffee.

Q: Where’s your favorite place to meet with students, and why?

A: My favorite place is Tim Horton’s or a pizza place. I like them to be able to have something in their hands. Our conversations flow easier when the total focus is not on talking.

Q: What do you do to stay relevant to youth?

A: I refuse to grow up! I accept their challenges as they accept mine. I read a lot. I like to keep in touch with the youth through Facebook.

Q: What resource has inspired you for ministry lately?

A: The Bible! Also Sticky Faith by Powell/Clark.

Q: What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done for a youth group fundraiser?

A: We do lots of crazy things—but not necessarily for fundraisers. They are just dares that we make up (leaders must participate!). We went sledding down a steep hill on mattresses once.

Brandon Bajema

Q: Where could we find you at 10:00 AM on a Saturday morning?

A: Most Saturday mornings you either find me out in the yard, working a job of mine or hanging out with my amazing wife (Robyn Bajema).

Q: What do you do to stay relevant to youth?

A: I recently attended a youth ministry conference for the first time. I will attend every year from now on! It was very impactful and filled up my cup to come back to my youth ministry refreshed with many new ideas! I also frequent other youth pastor’s blogs—it gives me new ideas and helps me find new perspectives on relevant issues for today’s youth.

Q: If your students described you in five words or less, what would they say?

A: CHICAGO FAN, AWESOME YOUTH PASTOR

Q: Where would you like to travel someday?

A: I love to travel! The place I’d most like to go is Ireland, because my favorite band U2 is from there!

Q: What got you started going to ThereforeGo’s Serve or other faith-forming experience?

A: I grew up going to Serve and Convention (now Live It). I loved the faith-forming experiences and the life-changing issues they brought to my attention. As an adult and now a youth pastor, I love to give my youth the same opportunities. Serve has been instrumental in helping my group of youth grow spiritually each year.

Trent Elders

Q: Where would we find you at 10:00 AM on a Saturday morning?

A: If there is not a youth activity going on, I am one of four places: fly fishing, taking photos of a wedding, biking to the Farmers Market or reading on my porch with my wife.

Q: What’s your favorite place to meet with students, and why?

A: Rowster Coffee. This is a coffee shop that cares not only about where they get their beans, but how they roast and brew each cup. It is a great atmosphere to have deep conversations with students, and it feels slightly cleaner and more comfortable than your average Taco Bell meeting spot.

Q: I never leave for youth group without:

A: My youth ministry bag: Bible, moleskin notebook, pen, iPhone, iPad, projector dongle, Swiss Army Knife, flashlight, guitar pick.

Q: If your students described you in five words or less, what would they say?

A: He has a beard….

Q: Where would you like to travel someday?

A: Middle Earth

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What Youth Leaders Really Want in a Mission Experience

ThereforeGo Ministries — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 17:28:49 +0000

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With the goal of continual improvement in mind, Youth Unlimited asked ten Sending Church youth leaders to explain what they hope for in a North American mission experience. Here’s a glimpse at their answers.

TRUST: Taking a group on a trip means that you must trust the leaders who will guide you through the experience once you arrive. It’s nearly impossible to have a great trip without a good host organization or church to guide you. That’s why Youth Unlimited is dedicated to building strong Host Church teams. A new Host Church learns the best practices of short-term missions and hosting. They consider how the Serve week integrates with their ongoing home missions and community outreach efforts. Resources and ideas are shared across an extensive network of Host Churches across Canada and the U.S.
SIMPLICITY: Missions is never “easy.” The very nature of missions demands that we grapple with spiritual battles and issues of injustice. However, by providing administrative help and an excellent Digital Resource Box, Youth Unlimited seeks to make the mobilization of students for the cause of Christ as simple as possible for church leaders. Clear communication is also important here. This is the difference between a smooth and simple experience or one in which groups feel confused and lost. Youth Unlimited encourages Host Churches to communicate clearly and often.
THE GOSPEL: Youth Leaders want their groups to experience a Gospel-filled week. The Speaker, the Worship Leader and the Adult Leaders at Serve are urged to make the Gospel the center of everything that happens. Students will be reminded of the good news and that the death and resurrection of Christ is our motivation for serving in the community.
A CHALLENGE: At the end of the week, participants ought to be saying, “I worked hard, played hard and thought more deeply about my walk with Christ. I was stretched out of my comfort zone.” That’s the ideal. Now, a brief reality check: There are always a few students and even adults who do not want to be challenged. Sending Churches want Host Church/Ministries to use grace and love when confronting behavior problems. Also, not all worksites will lead to amazing and fulfilling experiences. The Host Churches strive to connect the work to the need and the need to a person and their story. Even when that person or story is not obvious, however, students are still urged to serve with perseverance and a good attitude.
LEADERSHIP ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND ASSISTANCE:Some youth leaders are veterans and come with years of experience. Others are recruited at the last minute and need almost constant guidance. Host Churches/Ministries can assess adult leaders’ abilities and help them out as needed.
INCLUSIVE TRIPS: Youth leaders and students work hard to raise the money for a mission trip, so hidden costs are not cool. Sure, an extra $5 for the day away is reasonable. But an extra $15 is not going to happen. Sending Churches shouldn’t have to pull out their wallet for anything except to purchase fuel for their vehicle.
A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF PROTOCOLS AND INSURANCE IN CASE OF AN INJURY: If there’s an incident, adults want answers and not confusion. Youth Unlimited has procedures in place to make sure students are cared for and God is glorified in the process. Youth Unlimited also has excellent secondary insurance with Mutual of Omaha, but there is paperwork to file and the parent/legal guardian must be proactive after the student returns home.
LONG-TERM IMPACT: Youth leaders want to know that their group’s work mattered. They also want to help their own students integrate what they learned into their daily lives. In the Student and Leader versions of the Spiritual Life Guide and in the Digital Resource Box, Youth Unlimited supplies a Post-Trip Plan to help with follow-up.

If you’re one of the more than 200 Sending Churches working with Youth Unlimited this summer, please add your thoughts to this list by sending your comments to missions@youthunlimited.org.

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Learning, Growing, Serve-ing – Hosting a Special Needs Serve

ThereforeGo Ministries — Sat, 12 Apr 2014 15:58:01 +0000

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Special Needs Serve is tiring, emotional, and frustrating at times, and yet it is the highlight of my year!

I am amazed at all of the things that God has taught me. Over the last five years I have grown in my understanding of my own faith, my relationship with God and others, have experienced God in surprising places and have had a lot of fun in the process. (Never underestimate the fun factor!)

I work to orchestrate a Special Needs Serve that incorporates special planning and support in addition to the typical Serve template.

Youth mentors are important in the model that we use. Mentors are typical youth (not sure that’s EVER possible) who give of themselves to be the immediate supports needed to accommodate the many different needs of the students who come for this mission experience. Each youth with a disability is paired with a peer mentor who participates in Serve alongside them and lends support where necessary. Seeing the growth that happens among the mentors is amazing. They are challenged to learn how to do something with someone as opposed to for someone. It is a week where they trade selfishness for selflessness. They learn about authentic relationship—relationships that are mutual. The week begins with terms like ‘mentor’ and ‘participant.’ The week ends with terms like ‘friend’ and ‘buddy,’ communicating clear similarities—all equal and created for service.

Special Needs Serve flips our picture of disability, forcing us to see how everyone, regardless of ability, is created with gifts that contribute to building the body of Christ. It amazes me how many youth with disabilities do not otherwise have the opportunity to participate in a youth summer mission trip experience. I love the joy that the participants share when they are challenged to live out their faith—to be the hands and feet of Christ.

Amy has been a participant at Serve many times. As leaders, we have seen her grow in many ways, but watching her learn to articulate a clear faith is by far the most rewarding. “I like Serve because it gives me a chance to give back to God, meeting new people and learning more about God. . . . It gives me a chance to grow spiritually and as a person. . . . Each year I renew my faith in God, and I come home with a new message, which I pass along to others.”

Special Needs Serve helps us as leaders grow in our ability to be vulnerable. We learn to worship without abandon—to be who we are, to be free and to express our faith in many ways.

It also becomes a way to give testimony to the way in which God calls us all to live in community and in Serve-ice to him.

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Finding My Own Faith

ThereforeGo Ministries — Sat, 05 Apr 2014 18:30:42 +0000

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I grew up in a tumultuous home. My family was lower class, and I was the middle child of a somewhat recovered alcoholic father and a mother who was trying to piece together what her newfound faith in God meant for her and for her household. As a child and well into my teen years, my mother’s journey toward God was a hodgepodge of regurgitated televangelists’ theology. Our family bounced from church to church, receiving offerings of extreme grace one Sunday and being pelted with hell-fire-and-brimstone the next.

I learned about Jesus at a young age. This foundation of knowledge was important, and along with my mother’s expanding journey, led me to say prayers I think I meant, ask Jesus into my heart (on a regular basis!) and feel the pricks of a guilty conscious when I was sure I was not doing what Jesus would like. During my early teen years I thought this was all there was to faith.

Thank God for my late mother, but thank God also for youth group leaders and the opportunities they gave me to explore my own faith among my peers and among adults who felt called to foster the faith of young people. I would not be who I am today without having had the chance to escape everyday life to a safe place where I could learn to cry out for God in my own way.

If you are a youth leader, take heart. Sometimes the smallest acts of care can change the trajectory of a young person’s life. While on a youth outing, my youth pastor, on a sudden whim of inspiration, gathered every available pot and bucket and turned them upside down for me to drum on as hard as I could. Banging on pots and pans at 13 or 14 to Wes King (showing my age) may not seem like a big deal, but it was the first time I felt like someone had taken the time to see into me, recognize my desires and encourage them. I still play the drums, and I still remember that it was my youth pastor who first took the time to foster my passion and taught me to use my gifts for Christ.

Then there was the camp week where I finally felt the freedom to say that “I just must not feel it as much as the other students” because my emotions and reactions to the week’s teachings and worship were just not like the rest, and I felt so guilty. One dear, elderly lady sat me down and said that I was just trying too hard. Her words finally released me to be myself, because not all faith journeys should look alike. What a release from such simple words. For the first time, I quit overthinking and trying to mimic what other’s faith looked like, and I cried out to God on my own. She probably had no idea what freedom she gave me that day, or that I still hear her words when I feel out of place or am striving too hard to reach God when he is always right by my side.

I needed escape from routine, home and everyday life to discover who I was in Christ. As an adult, I still need that. We are a people made for God’s whispers and shouts. Sometimes we just can’t hear them when we are surrounded by everyday life and all the things we think we’re supposed to be doing.

This is why I work at Youth Unlimited today; students need time and space to begin forging their own journey with Christ. They need to receive care and mentoring from other adult Christians who love them. They need opportunities to get out of their comfort zones and make their faith their own.

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Youth Ministry Blog – ThereforeGo Ministries

Intergenerational Ingenuity

Dynamic Denver Discipleship

Summer SERVE

Trusting Wise People

My Plans vs God’s Plan

Crock pot or microwave?

Posture

Perspective

Ready. Set. Wait???

Is There More To Supporting Student Mission Trips Than Writing A Check?

12 Ways Youth Can Serve at Home

Serve in Your Church

1. Call or visit congregation members

2. Write cards/notes to older individuals

3. Run a class or book club

4. Help with cleaning or gardening

Serve in Your Community

5. Help your neighbors with home projects

6. Clean out your closet

7. Reconnect with friends near and far

8. Share something you love

Serve in Your Home

9. Help with extra chores

10. Help a sibling with their homework or spend some time doing something they like doing

11. Collect your family stories

12. Pray

Acts of Service are All Around Us

Garden Dirt and Cheeto Dust

5 Most Impactful Youth Mission Trips

1. Local Mission Trips

2. International Mission Trips

3. Mission Work in a “Big City”

4. Youth Summer Camp Missions

5. Mission Trips To Alaska

Words of Advice

Keep Your Trip Relationship Focused

You Can Never Over-Prepare

Are you planning a youth mission trip?

FAQs

What are impactful types of mission trips?

What advice would you give about mission trips for teens?

Can domestic mission trips be impactful?

What kind of youth mission trips does ThereforeGo offer?

Anti-Racist Resources For Your Youth Group

Additional Justice Resources

5 Events to Raise More Money for Your Next Youth Mission Trip

1. Text-to-Tithe Campaign

2. Charity or Silent Auction

3. Crowdfunding Campaign

4. Parents Party

5. Teach a New Skill

Are you planning a youth mission trip for High school students?

5 Reflection Questions to Ask After Your Mission Trip

1. What are the top three things I will miss from my mission experience?

2. What are the top three things I’m most thankful for at home?

3. What is one thing I want to remember from this experience?

4. What do I feel like God was communicating to me during this time?

5. Who will I share with when I get home so I can be held accountable for continuing this growth?

Take the time to reflect on your mission trip

Are you planning a youth mission trip for High school students?

7 Ways to Empower and Encourage Youth Before a Youth Mission Trip

1. Make a list of the people (or the person) they most admire and their qualities.

2. Spend time in prayer.

3. Reduce fear of failure.

4. Share and reflect before sleep.

5. Develop a student leadership team.

6. Plan after-hours activities.

7. Formalize reflection and feedback.

Are you planning a youth mission trip for High school students?

9 Benefits of Youth Mission Trips

1. God will change you.

2. You build relationships with people.

3. Your comfort zone will be challenged.

4. You are taught faith in ways you don’t expect.

5. Your compassion grows.

6. You practice patience and flexibility.

7. You become more globally aware and better understand the world.

8. You commit to servanthood.

9. The benefits don’t end when the trip is over.

Are you planning a youth
mission trip for High school students?

Are you planning a youth
mission trip for High school students?

Are you planning a youth
mission trip for High school students?

Are you planning a youth
mission trip for High school students?