I had the privilege to participate with the NNYM in a round-table discussion with Keith Anderson, Bo Boshers, Chris Brooks, Kenda Creasy Dean, Kara Powell and Dave Rahn on transformational youth ministry.

You can download the article here: http://www.nnym.org/pdf/NetMag-Fall2007-3.pdf

I continue to be encouraged with the conversations, strategic thinking and prayerful pursuit of youth ministry becoming more and more transformational.

I was tagged by my good friend Doug Jones nearly a week ago. Sorry I am just now getting to it…

As with most tags, here are the rules:

1. Apologize for three things that Christians have often got wrong. Your apologies should be directed towards those who don’t view themselves as part of the Christian community. Alternatively, apologize for things you personally have done wrong towards those outside of the church.
2. Post a comment at the originating post so others can keep track of the apologies.
3. Tag five people to participate in the meme.
4. If desired, send an email with the link to your blog post at the Christians Confess site, giving permission for your apologies to be added to the website.

Confessions:

First, I confess that I have not revealed through my own actions, words and deeds the accessible life and message of Jesus as well as I could have and should have. I have not always been the image of God nor have I always attentively joined in his kingdom activity where I could have and should have. For the many omissions, I am sorry.

Second, I confess that I have far too often let the frown on my face override the smile. I have let negativity, skepticism and cynicism guide my behavior and reactions rather than the hope, trust and faith that comes with being a believer in Jesus. I sincerely apologize for this disgruntlement. How would anyone be able to see Jesus in me if I am only displaying the me in me?

Finally, I confess that my prayers to God have been more about me and my needs and selfish desires than for the injustice, poverty, genocide, corruption, racism, war, etc. that besiege many everyday. I am sorry that I have not been more aware, concerned and benevolent.

“We are never satisfied with the present. We are always anticipating the future as if it were coming too slowly, wanting to speed up its pace. Or we remember the past, devising ways to preserve it, since it vanishes too quickly. It is folly to be wandering about, trying to find our way in times that don’t belong to us. We have forgotten about the present time that we have. So, never living, we are always hoping to live. We are always prepared to be happy, but never are.”

– Blaise Pascal, 1658

My friend Doug Jones over at Perigrinatio has got me thinking about how I evaluate myself and the efforts of others. In my soul searching I have discovered that I am way too opinionated about things that are really nothing more than preferences or another, different way. I have always been an evaluator. Good or bad, for as long as I can remember I have looked at events, books, ideas, movies, sports teams, etc. through a critical lens. I am not sure why that is…it is sort of just in me.

In my role as director of Sonlife I have had to be about evaluation, critical thinking and constant assessment of our training, products and events for their impact and effectiveness. I have to be conscience of and practice healthy business fundamentals like supply and demand, financial sustainability, cost to benefit analysis, budget projections, staff productivity, etc. I am learning a bit as I go. Thank God I have a team and a board of directors to help me. I have no formal business training and I am a youth pastor as heart so I admit I have some major growth areas. However, when it comes to the efforts of others I am far to concerned with my opinion, what I would do different or what I could do to make something better. This is a problem for me.

We all need to be evaluated and sharpened in our leadership and methods and the truth is there is always room for improvement. I am not against helping myself or others move to the next level, but why do I seem to think that everything that I do is better than what everyone else is doing…?

Now, convictions are all together a different issue. The things I am convicted about I do because of God’s leading and the Spirits prompting. I understand that when I evaluate someone else’s or even my own ministry efforts that I need to do so through the lens of what I hold to be an unshakable truth. Again, that is different. I know the difference between the two — opinion and conviction — and yet for whatever the reason I always seem to blend the two together and pretend that they are one.

Let me give you and example. We (Sonlife) just finished two straight weeks of Merge, an event designed to help students merge their life with God’s story, his intended way of life and his mission to restore the world. It is a good event. Nearly the whole week I was in opinion/evaluation mode. I was looking for things that I would do differently and then communicating those things to people around me. Now, some of them were simple and logistical and in many ways related to those healthy business practices I mentioned above. Others of them, however, were related more to the effectiveness of other people serving in certain roles compared to myself or the way a room was set up or the song selection or the images behind the lyrics on the screen. These are not things I am convicted about. These are things I have different ideas and preferences about. You see my personal conundrum?

I need to be more concerned with who God is calling me to be and what I believe he is ordering me to be convicted about. The jealousy, cynicism, skepticism, arrogance and the need to be better or right have got to go.

Do you struggle with this? Do you find yourself being carried away from your calling and mission by “better ideas” or “other ways”? We need to help each other grow away from this type of thinking.

I had a conference call this morning with the senior leadership team and youth pastor (not on the senior lead. team) of a new but rapidly growing church here in the greater Chicago area. Very nice people. Great hearts and an obvious passion to see people live, love and lead in the way of Jesus.

I was first introduced to this church when they attended our Enroute Learning Experience over a year ago. I have had the privilege of sharing in their journey from a distance as they update my with emails and phone calls. I would name the church (because I think it is such a cool place!) but the senior leader asked me not too, which is also very cool…

The church is only a couple years old but has grown from 50 people to about 350 people in less than two years. They are not trying to build a huge church and they do not see numbers as important — other than the fact that they need to move forward with expanding their staff in order to best serve the people. So, numbers are important to them but only in the context of being sure they are laying the foundation and basis for a staff community that can truly serve people. I get a very cool vibe from these folks…

It is an innovative church really seeking to discover ways to (these are my words to follow) help people belong to a community, recognize and experience God in the journey of life and join the others in the community as they seek to join God in his mission to restore the world.

The main issue they wanted me to help them think through was specifically related to their growing youth ministry. Here is the question they asked, “What do you think about us hiring a mature adult, maybe a man or women in their late 40’s to early 50’s, who has raised teens to come along side our youth pastor for mentoring? This person would give the bulk of their time to investing into the parents of the children and teens in our church, helping them to realize the importance of their active role in their kids’ formation. What do you think about that?”

Wow! What a great question! I was speechless — truly a momentary loss of words. I was totally expecting the normal next hire staff positions to be thrown out. You know, the worship person, the outreach person, the programming person, the creative arts person, the administrative person, etc. But no! One of only a few times in my consulting experience this church came to me with the very idea I was going recommend to them. Very fun. Once I shook out the absence of words in my head, I said, “Great idea! Let me know if you need help finding this person.” And then we talked more about what this person would do, the advantages to the position and the disadvantages, etc…

I was deeply encouraged by this phone call. (I know my friend, Mark Riddle would be too. Mark, I wish you would have been on the line with me!) What a great move — hiring a person who has raised teens to mentor the youth pastor and invest their time primarily in inspiring and equipping parents in order to see themselves as (and be effective at being) the critical piece to helping their own children grow spiritually.

So, this made me curious. Are any of you thinking along these lines? Would this be your next hire? Has it already been your “next” strategic hire?