When I was five years old my brother asked me if I wanted to burn in hell? I said, “no,” he said pray this prayer. That was the day I was saved. Not really, but when I think back on my conversion experience, that is all I remember. I grew up in a Christian home and wanted to follow Jesus since I can’t remember. I didn’t have a time when I back slid or really did anything to run away from God. I don’t have a story of waking up hung-over and turning to God… I was pretty much born saved. So it got me thinking, how do we minister to students who suffers from early salvation?

1. Make it cool
Its a privilege to serve Jesus all the days of your life, but we never tell students that. For God to make you a faithful servant in his kingdom is cool. To be an example of dependability means God trusts you and will give you many gifts and opportunities to serve him. Celebrate the first in, and give them confidence that God has done a special work in their lives.

2. Legacy
Teach students the power of legacy. Allow them to meet some of the faithful members of your church so they can see how a life lived for Christ can make a difference. Ask students why they think God has placed a special calling on their lives? Ask them what responsibility they have to serve? Challenge them to think about when they are 70, and how many people they will have influenced. Paint the picture for them of living a legacy.

3. Elite servants
I believe God has ordained some for special missions. Missions that require in-depth training. The training that I received from my parents and grandparents has given me a depth to my life that I would never have by just studying God’s word as an adult. I have a depth of faith that comes from years and years of seeing God work. I am more quick to take risks and I believe in the power of God, unlike many of my Christian brothers. As youth workers we need to challenge these types of students at a much deeper level. Instead of placing them on a pedestal and saying, “they got it,” lets challenge them to lead and take on special missions for Christ.

When student leadership teams are well organized, they usually require students to sign a covenant concerning their behavior. This is crucial to ensuring the integrity of the team and the idea that students can have influence over their peers. This is all well and good, but what do we do if a students breaks the covenant and needs to be removed? How do we treat that student? More importantly, how do we redeem that student so they can return to leadership?

First, let me say that if your going to have a student leadership team then you are going to face this problem. The sole answer can not be to kick them off because they should have known better. The truth is when a student goes rogue, its time for us to shine. We get to jump into action and go after that student with everything we have. Here are four things you need to do after confronting the student and removing them from the team.

1. Get the parents involved
Let the parents know right away why the their student is off the team. Explain how you want to work with them to restore their student to a position of influence. Insure them that your focus is helping and redeeming, not judging.

2. Put a plan in place of restoration
Let the student know what steps need to be taken for them to return to the team. I don’t know your students, so I won’t try and tell you how to make this plan, but I am confident that you know. Just make sure the student repents, has time to heal, and returns to serve.

3. Let the team know the plan
Make sure your other student leaders are cheering for this student’s return. They must see the importance of this young leader being restored. Share the stories of Jesus and the one lost sheep. Explain how each person is so important to Jesus and how we must have the same view of our fellow students.

4. Celebrate the return
When the student is restored … make it a big deal. Kinda like the prodigal son’s return home.

The following is an exercise that you can use with student leaders to help them identify a younger student to mentor. You can also download this activity in PDF form at http://www.leadertreks.org/assets/Identify-a-Mentee-Activity.pdf

A leader should be in a continual cycle of being poured into (being mentored) and pouring into someone else (serving as a mentor). This activity will help your students identify a person in their lives whom they could mentor. Encourage your students, when appropriate, to approach this person as a possible mentee. As the adult leader or youth pastor, it is wise to oversee this process.

A mentee is a person who is younger than you, or not as far along as you in their walk with Christ. You can encourage a mentee as they learn from your experience – doing what you found helpful and avoiding your mistakes. All you need is time and a willingness to help someone else.

Directions: List at least 5 characteristics, qualities or traits that you would look for in selecting a mentee.
A Mentee Should…
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Explain the reason you think this attribute or quality is important.

Because…

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Note to Facilitators:
Ideally, students should identify and approach a possible mentee. But realistically, they may not have time to work with both a mentor and a mentee. If so, first help them find a mentor who will be a trusted counselor, and one who will teach them how to mentor. Later, they can begin to mentor others, too.

Many of us have been using the New Year to make goals and think about
the future. We all have an idea of who we want to be in the future. We
dream of the impact we are going to have on others. We would like to
be creative, better leaders or more intentional. I often hear
20-somethings tell me who they want to be when they are 30 or 40 years
old. The truth is, who you are going to be in the future depends on
what you do today. If you want to be a creative type in the future,
spend time this afternoon being creative – set aside 30 minutes to
think about how your programing can be more engaging and motivating.
Think of ways to inspire that have never been used before. If you want
to be a better leader, offer to lead anything that’s available. The
only way to be a better leader is to practice. If we think people are
just going to come along and gives us a title of leader we are wrong.
Whoever you want to be ten years from now, be that person this
afternoon and I promise you that ten years from now you will be who
you want to be.