What do you do when…..  A student responds to a Bible study question, but you know there is more for the student to uncover? Do you ask a follow up question or do you just let it go? Often times I find adults don’t want to push students. Maybe they think students won’t like them or they are not sure if the student can answer the question? Whatever the case, we as teachers have to ask ourselves, what is our priority?. Is it for the student to learn or is it for us to feel good about ourselves? Courage and teaching go hand-in-hand. For us to have courage we must first have our priorities straight.  Jesus did, just read the first seven chapters of Mathew. Jesus goes right after the toughest topics of his days. Or how about the women at the well, did Jesus back off there? No, we can’t either. Let’s challenge our students and push them to think in church. Let’s make our first priority their growth.

I love to create ideas that lead to resources for youth workers; I hate to write resources for youth workers. Understanding this about me has brought me so much joy and excitement. See, I used to think that I had to be like those others youth ministry guys who wrote their own material, so I would slave away at my computer trying to kick out a few words and hating every minute of it.  Now I sit in a meeting with four other great people at LeaderTreks and share my ideas and they take it and make great resources out of my ideas. This is the cool part; they love to write and find great joy in it.

When we work in our strengths work = joy. How do you do this? Start by reading Strengthfinders 2.0, and when you have finished do the following activity.

Write on a piece of paper everything you do for your job. Make the list down the middle of the page. Then are the right side of the list put a check by everything you do that is within your strengths and brings you joy. When you are finished look at all the activities that don’t fit your strengths and try and find other people in your organization, including volunteers who will do that work for you. You won’t be able to give it all away (I still have to work on insurance issues here at LeaderTreks). Try and find people who’s strengths are the activities you don’t want to do. Try hard to spend 60% -70% of your time working in your strength. It will bring you joy.

Ever hold a parents meeting and very few parents come? I used to think it was good that no one came because it meant parents were happy with the job I was doing. Now I think it’s a shame that parents don’t come because it would be a great opportunity to serve them. The problem is most parents don’t come because it’s just another calendar meeting. Basically they know all you’ll do is go through the next few months of events, ask a couple of non-important questions, then send them on their way. We’re great at calendar meetings within youth ministry. We do them with our staff and announcements at youth group revolve around them. (We love filling the calendar because it makes it seem like we are busy).

If we want to engage parents we must make our parents meetings about more than calendar. Here is one idea. Pick four topics you know parents are struggling with. Put a banner in each corner of the room you are having the parents meeting in with the topic on it. Spend five minutes on calendar then ask parents to go to a corner of the room with the topic they are most struggling with. Have an appointed parent be the facilitator in each corner and let the parents talk. Some will talk about their problems while others will share what has worked and what has not. Parents will come to understand that they are not alone and can begin to support each other. You might even hear, “good meeting” from some of the parents. And trust me, more will show up for the next one if you connect them with each other.

Have you ever had a conversation about your pay with your Sr. Pastor? I am surprised by how many youth workers I meet who are frustrated with their pay but have never told anyone at their church about their problem. Churches right now are low on funds, but youth workers need to have an open dialogue with church leaders about their finances. Think through these ideas:

1. Get a financial mentor
Many youth workers are young and don’t know much about pay, retirement or budgeting. Find someone in your church who can coach you on financial matters. Ask an older guy in the church who knows what he is talking about and have him take you around the block on finances. Years later you will thank him.

2. Get an employment advocate
Youth workers need a leader at church who is looking out for them on employment issues. Most youth workers would do the ministry for free because they believe sacrifice is what God wants from them. Some church leaders know this and honestly take advantage of this thinking (not all but some). If you are a youth worker in your first job, ask an elder or church leader to be your employment advocate. This person should know everything about your financial situation and should be able to communicate to the church your needs.

3. Get a Biblical perspective on money
If you are going to stumble, it’s most likely going to be because of two areas in your life: sex or money. You better get a Biblical perspective on both. When we are unhappy about money we start thinking the worst about the people in our church, so we better start communicating about our needs and problems. Most churches can’t do much right now, but as long as we are communicating honestly we will not be gossiping or complaining, thus fulfillin what Scripture requires of us in these areas.