Teen Perspectives

I’m going to be interviewing teens who have just graduated from high school. They’ll be answering questions about their experiences, or lack of experiences with their youth groups.

Today I’ll be interviewing:

Beth King

She’s 19 and loves music and writing.

Let’s see what she has to say:


What aspect of your youth group ministered to you the most?

Small groups! They’re the most important. I went to a youth group during my junior high years that meet in small groups. Between 2 and 3 hundred students came to that youth group, so it could be easy to get lost in the crowd. But, in the small group meetings, I could connect with one youth leader and a few different teens on a more personal level. I got challenged so much by these girls. They held me accountable to the things discussed during our meetings.

The youth group “took a break” from small groups for a time, but never really started them back up again. There were a lot of things hitting me during that time and I really felt as if the weight of it all was on my shoulders alone. Small groups give support when you’re so weak that you can’t hold yourself up spiritually or emotionally. I ended up in a place where I was so weighed down, but I didn’t have anyone to help me carry the weight. The friends that were there for me only added to the weight with their negative influence on my life. I ended up getting into a lot of bad stuff, much of which was due to not have a core group of people to hold me up in my time of weakness.

This kind of rolls into the next question:

How did your youth ministry cause you to fall more in love with God?

I got invited to go to another youth group at one point and I went. It was honestly just something I did to get out of the house since my parents had grounded me from basically anything but church and homework outside of school. The new youth group welcomed me in and made a point to get to know me. They listened as I shared my heart and just loved me. They didn’t just label me a “backslider” and leave it at that. Instead, they showed God’s love to me. Then, when they talked about God, I was more interested in what they had to say. After a month at this youth group, I rededicated my life to God.

My experience is a perfect example that this saying is true: people don’t care how uch you know until they know how much you care.

Financial Training for Teens

One of my passions in life in living a frugal life and teaching others to make the most of the money and resources they have in this life.

So, how do we help teenagers have this passion for being a steward of money and their resources?

I will be sharing on this topic almost every Thursday as we discuss how to love God and honor Him with their money. I am looking forward to next week and beginning this topic.

A Massive Snake

Whoa!

My kids Zack, Sierra, and Savannah were so excited after I showed them the video of this massive snake.

Men's Ministry in a Student Ministry Part I

• "Being a male is a matter of birth, being a Man is a matter of Choice."
  
  In youth ministry, I have rarely seen seen a focus on men's development in youth groups. I have seen churches focus on men's ministry, but very rarely in the teenage years. When I first became a Youth Pastor, I searched for information that would help me target the young men to bring them from being boys to thriving as men. The information was not there to be found. In the youth ministry I am part of, we typically have more young men than young women attend. The reason for this is the environment that is created with what I call Trailer Club. Trailer Club is a men's specific teaching that hits the young men square in their face about 3 issues:
  1. Becoming the best Son's
  2. Becoming the best Husband's
  3. Becoming the best Father's
  
  It is everyone man's dream to become at least one of the those three concepts above it not all of them. Here are some things I would ask you to consider when it comes to leading your family or your youth ministry:
  
  
• Do you have a plan in place so the young men in your care are being challenged to make choices that will help them become better men?
  
• Have you created an atmosphere in your own life that provides challenges in your own life?
  
• What do you think of the quote, "For boys to become men, they have to see men."
  
• What would a men's focus in your youth ministry look like with the area you live in and the young men that attend?
  
• Do you have to have a Wii to draw young guys to your youth ministry, or is love for God enough?
  

Here are some thoughts...I will continue to share thoughts almost every week on this topic.

My first Post

This site will give my thoughts on a variety of topics. It will include thoughts on my family, youth ministry in general, my life as a part-time youth pastor, leading the emerging generation, topics of interest, and events I am part of it.