What? Youth Group and motorcylces indoor don't go together?

Saw this on Kurt Johnston's blog this morning and had to share.

Good thing I saw this because we were thinking about doing the same thing tonight, only the guy driving the motorcycle would be juggling machetes at the same time. Really??? No, not really. :)

What do youth pastors do all week to stay busy?

When I was a student, I certainly wondered what my youth pastor did all week. In case you're curious, here's a little insight... :)

What really goes on in the LifeLine office during the week from Jon Grunden on Vimeo.

Sledding without Snow

This school year our student ministry made a move from "live" announcements to announcements on video. Overall, it has been a good move for us. If you are interested in why, check it out here.

Otherwise, here is our most recent installment: Promo for winter retreat. Enjoy!

Announcement Dec 2 and 6 from Jon Grunden on Vimeo.

Volunteer Training Plan so far this year

My first six years in student ministry were as a volunteer. Honestly, I thought I knew everything there was to know about leading students. It wasn't until I joined staff four years ago that my ignorance and arrogance were exposed. One of the most terrifying moments of my career was the first time I stood in front of my peers and tried to "train" them. Maybe it's just me, but year after year I feel like the volunteers in our ministry are a whole lot smarter and more knowledgeable than I am. I often feel like I learn more from them than they learn from me. What I have realized over time is that student ministry is far from brain surgery. Most volunteers come in with a great knowledge base, and it's my job to help mold and shape what they already know, and help put handles on it.

This summer, our team spent significant time boiling down everything we feel is important for a new volunteer to know and a veteran volunteer to be reminded of. The result of these conversations lead to our first training plan. This is not a new idea, and most of these ideas are borrowed from people who have been doing this a lot longer than I have, but I wanted to share it in hope that it might inspire, encourage, and challenge others. Here's what we have done so far.

Note: Our structure allows us 45 minutes each week with just volunteers. We alternate between training and giving our leaders time in their cell families (gatherings of 6-10 leaders)

Week 1: Run Through Night: We took a night to walk volunteers (without students) through what we do and why we do it.
Week 2: Purpose of Small Group: Why we believe small groups are at the core of what we do + a basic understanding of how we handle discipline.
Week 3: SG Basic Training: Basic "how to's" of small group time
Week 4: SG Do's and Don'ts: the "do's and don'ts" of small group time
Week 5: Mentor/Friend: What it means to be a mentor and a friend to students
Week 6: Abuse, depression, cutting and suicide: How to handle these situations.
Week 7: 5-3-1 (borrowed from Doug Fields): How to prioritize your investment in your small group students
Week 8: Social Media Etiquette for volunteers (facebook, twitter, etc.)
Week 9: Gender Grade discussions: Round table discussions for leaders of each grade and gender.

If you would like details on any of these trainings please email me at jgrunden@adabible.org.

Step outside yourself

My wife and I had the privilege of accompanying our three preschool age children to a "Preschool Pajama Party" tonight at our church.

It was an incredible experience. An hour and a half of one hundred plus preschoolers (in pajamas) enjoying family pictures, crafts, face painting, singing and a movie with popcorn.

My kids had a blast, and my wife and I felt blessed to spend an evening together enjoying this event as a family. I am extremely grateful for the staff and volunteers who invest in my children each week. It brings great joy to my heart to watch my three year old daughter run out of her class each week, with a big smile on her face, unable to contain her enthusiasm about what she just learned about God. However, It also brings joy to my heart to know that my church cares enough about me spending time with my family, and connecting with other families, to prioritize an event like this.

Two observations I have after tonight:

1. I have been attending Ada Bible for just over eleven years, and have connected deeply with teaching, worship, small group community, and serving in student ministry. I love all of these things, but the fact that our preschool department took the time to create an event that values my family, impacts me in a new and different way. One night of family fun has given me a deeper passion for my church. I have only been a parent for three and a half years, but already I suspect that parenting can feel very lonely, and it means the world to know that our church believes in what we are doing and is there for us as parents.

2. I have been working for the church for just over six years. Honestly, I have a great appreciation and respect for everyone that works within the church, but most of my time and passion is spent in student ministry. When you invest yourself deeply in one aspect of an organization, it is extremely important to remember to look at what others are doing, even within the same organization. Otherwise it is easy to succumb to pride or potentially get stuck in a rut. Tonight's event reminded me again of the deep importance of connecting with and encouraging families as they lead their children.

Meet Volunteers Where They Are

Each week, we ask our student ministry small group leaders to accomplish 4 goals in their small group time

1. Connect as a group: give each student the chance to share a little about their week with the rest of the group.

2. Put handles on the teaching: give students the opportunity to dialogue about the teaching, look in God's Word together, and put "handles" on it, so they can carry away a specific idea of how this applies to their lives, and ultimately understand the concept in a deeper way.

3. Create an environment where students feel safe asking questions

4. Pray: model prayer as a faith practice and create a community where students learn to pray for one another throughout the week.

While we don't use a specific curriculum, we do...

1. Devote several leader training sessions to the basics of leading a student small group.

2. Connect each leader with a coach who cares for them, helps them grow as a leader, and occasionally sits in on their group time to evaluate and encourage them.

3. Offer them resources/further training/specific ideas to improve their small group time.

One of the ways we resource leaders is by sending them a lesson summary each week. This consists of a basic outline of the teaching, key scripture, and potential questions for small group time. From there, we leave it up to the leader to mold their small group time into a meaningful experience.

One of our goals is to meet volunteers where they are, in the midst of their busy lives. In attempt to make lesson summaries easily accessible and more memorable, we began sending our volunteers short video summaries each week.

A dual purpose:

We have also been sending these videos to our students' parents...

1. to continue to build relationship with parents

2. to keep parents informed on what we are teaching

3. to facilitate further conversation in the home about spiritual things.

Here is an example of this week's summary.

Lesson Summary Nov 1 and 4 from Jon Grunden on Vimeo.

We would love your feedback, ideas, critiques, or encouragement on this idea as we continue to grow. Please feel free to leave comments below.

Leader Introductions

This fall, we have over one hundred volunteers between Jr. High and Sr. High. We realize that most of our students only know a hand full of these leaders. As this number continues to grow, we are trying to find new ways to help our students connect with a greater number of leaders, so that we can increase the potential relational impact.

Many of the students that we serve have access to and are familiar with video editing software. As a result we decided to invite our students (starting with Sr. High) to introduce their small group leader to us in 2 minutes or less through video. We maintained the right to edit what they gave us, but other than that, we left it completely in their control. To give them some idea of what we were talking about, we put together this simple video.

Aaron's Crib from Jon Grunden on Vimeo.

So far, nobody has entered a video, but there has been a lot of buzz about the idea. We will have to see what happens.