» leadership

Planning ahead

radiantfirst — Tue, 18 May 2010 01:48:38 +0000

If there is anything I have learned that has helped me to execute well…. it is the value of planning ahead. Occasionally I can wing it and come up with a great series or video in less than a week, but more times than not the best ideas take time to marinate and time to discuss in boring meetings. Its easy to focus on what is due this week and much more difficult to focus on a series or project that is 3 months away. One of the things I love about action method is that I can break up various tasks I have. Tasks that are due immediately, on-going projects and the favorite “backburner items”. Having a place to look at on-going projects on a periodic basis I have found is one of the keys to actually getting them done. If the idea is in your head and never makes it to paper or an online application, the likelihood of it being remembered is probably not that good.

Recently I asked one of my bosses if we could begin to think about our fall series in September so that I could create the pieces during the summer. Asking him this question forced both of us to figure out a meeting that would help us to land such a large decision. I love the thought of being able to be months ahead in the creative process because that helps to give me an edge that I just can’t have on a week by week basis.

Tweet This Post

Making the big ask

radiantfirst — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:14:10 +0000

Here is a fact for you, there are students and adults in your church who will never sign up to volunteer in your ministry. Here is another fact for you, some of these people would love to volunteer if you just ask them.

Sometimes we are afraid to ask people to volunteer their time who have not sought us out, when in fact we should see this as an opportunity for them to really serve in the Kingdom of God. Occasionally I will find a student or adult who is really into film-making but isn’t using their gifts in the church. I then call them up and ask them if they would consider using their talents to benefit the church. Most of the time they are interested and sometimes these volunteers turn out to be the best volunteers. We can’t be afraid of asking people to volunteer their time because of what we are asking for. What we are asking them to be apart of is kingdom stuff. This is the kind of stuff where people can really be used by God in tremendous ways.

Think of some key people in your church that you believe could really help in the needed areas of your ministry. Don’t cross them off your list too quickly if they are already committed to other parts of the church or you feel that they wouldn’t be interested because your area of ministry is not important enough. You’d be surprised at how many people will actually say yes if you ask them to be apart of Kingdom work.

Tweet This Post

Student ownership in your ministry

radiantfirst — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 23:55:47 +0000

I can remember when I was in middle school desperately wanting to be done with being a teenager and hoping to someday be an adult with real responsibilities. Fortunately I was able to find some outlets as a teenager working various jobs and volunteering in my youth ministry where I was challenged to take ownership. For me this was exciting, finally getting to a point in life where I was taken somewhat seriously and was able to do something where other people depended on me.

I believe students today feel this same way. Many of them are anxiously waiting for opportunities where they can be independent and carry out certain adult-like roles. While this can be a good/positive thing, it can sometimes backfire if handed off too prematurely.

Recently we held a meeting with some of our various student teams where one of our leaders challenged the students to take ownership and iniating start within their teams. It was cool to see the wheels turn as various students would come to me with ideas they wanted to do or come into our office on a monday ready to volunteer. The words “student ownership” spoke their language and ignited a desire to step out and do something. When we speak the language of students, we open doors for creativity and possibilities for them to lead in new and real ways.

Are you letting students in your ministry take ownership?

Tweet This Post

Lessons learned from creating a talkshow for teenagers

radiantfirst — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:06:26 +0000

In June of last year I stumbled upon some videos from some students in our ministry on facebook. They had created a little following from a talk show that they created using their webcam. I spoke with them and encouraged them that perhaps they could use this show for greater purposes and offered to help them in this endeavor. In august of 2009 we launched whatisyourproblem.tv, as well as a facebook page, a youtube channel and a video podcast on itunes. At the time we weren’t totally 100% positive of the direction or the purpose but we decided to move forward. Since doing the show and 22 episodes later we have created a following of more than 2300 fans on facebook and have really created a unique dialogue among this group of teenagers. Each episode their is some comedy and towards the end we try to focus on a specific problem sent in from the viewers. During one month we ran an ad campaign on facebook that targeted teenagers in our area. This campaign really helped to bring more fans, but overall the fans came from friends of our show.

Creating a talk show has been beneficial for several reasons. #1 it has created awareness of our student ministry to our community. #2 it has helped teenagers in a very real and authentic way deal with some very real problems they are facing. #3 it has provided an outlet for our youth ministry to say that yes we too can have fun and cut up some of the time. #4 it has provided an outlet for several teenagers to use their gifts and abilities to further the kingdom in a very unique way

Tweet This Post

Using the storying method

radiantfirst — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:01:12 +0000

This weekend I got the chance to sit and hear from Michael Novelli, founder of www.echothestory.com speak about the practice of “storying.” Novelli has been doing “storying” since 2004 and claims to be an experimenter who is trying to reclaim an ancient tradition.
Last year our youth ministry used this “storying” technique for a series we did that told the story of God from Genesis to Revelation. We creatively told the story in our large group setting and then practiced dialoguing the story in our small groups. The great thing about this method is that it really helps students to learn from the story instead of them learning several points you have prepared to teach them. In august I flew to Mozambique with a mission group from our church to record a documentary of the trip. During the trip we used the “storying” method as the content for the english speaking camp we held. This method in my opinion is one of the best discipleship tools in the since that when students learn the story they learn the truth in a holistic way. If you haven’t checked out “storying” you really should.

Tweet This Post

Providing options for high school students

radiantfirst — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 01:38:29 +0000

One of the things I remember hating about high school was being stuck in a class I knew I had no desire to learn about. Being a creative person I really struggled with math/science courses and wished at some point I could focus more on what I was good at. There is something about being a high school student where variety and options are important. Teens at this age are almost considered an adult and are having to make more and more decisions and choices on their own.

Recently we had a meeting with several adults in our youth ministry who have been leading electives for our high school students on sunday morning. We came to the conclusion that in the past “sunday school” had a bad connotation because it had the appearance of “school,” which meant boring and lectures. For nearly 8 months we have taken a different approach to teaching this age group by providing 6+ elective classes for students to choose from. The elective classes last 5-6 weeks and then students come together for a month of lecture based teachings by one teacher. The electives are interactive, discussion oriented, topic driven and give students the chance to decide what they want to learn about. For our youth ministry, “Sunday Nights” is where our discipleship groups meet so we decided to provide an outlet during the morning that was not as deep and could reach students at an entry level. Some of the topics consisted of Leadership, apologetics, film and faith, life after high school, evangelism, inductive bible study etc…I think there has been a lot of positives to taking this approach and letting students decide what they want to learn based on their particular bent.

Tweet This Post

Prayer as glue

radiantfirst — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:25:20 +0000

Ever since I went to Africa this past summer God has been awakening me to his true power and my need for Him. It’s easy sometimes to do ministry or my job with my own strength and not depend on Him or seek His direction. Recently in our youth building we moved our prayer room from an area which was currently out of sight to a more prominent place in our facility. A couple of our leaders decided that we needed to gather monthly if not more to pray for this ministry. Organizing a prayer meeting is harder then you think, because a lot of times you have to deal with people’s schedules and convincing them prayer is important. We finally came up with a time where we would meet the last Sunday of the month before our small groups and spend 30-40 minutes in prayer. We sent out a mass email this week and just to remind our leaders we sent out a group text using tatango so they wouldn’t forget. Prayer is one of the few things that can bring us together and unify us with one purpose. The more we pray together the more our hearts and vision will be in the same place to reach students. Prayer is kind of like glue in that it knits our hearts together as we seek God.

Tweet This Post

Thinking past Sunday

radiantfirst — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 01:21:33 +0000

Sunday is a big day for most churches….hint it being sabbath and all. A lot of times we focus so much attention on Sunday we ignore the rest of the week at least in a programming since. Now with the advent of things such as facebook pages and blogs…content can more easily come into the homes of students more than once a week. For our series that started last night called TRUE LYF we created a documentary that follows various students in our ministry and challenged them to do various spiritual disciplines. These documentaries ended up being pretty long (30 minutes) so we decided to show a highlight clip at church and the full versions each day during the rest of the week on the facebook page. We also decided to develop a devotional guide for students to follow the same challenge the students in the video had to do. The benefit to adding these extras in this series is that it really allows the message to come home where life really happens.

You can check out the facebook page HERE and watch the promo below.

Tweet This Post

Teaching on Film and Faith

radiantfirst — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:44:31 +0000

In our youth department we have been experimenting since the beginning of summer letting our high school students pick what they want to study on Sunday mornings. Recently I got an opportunity to teach a class on film and faith in which we watch clips of a movie and then draw out spiritual meanings in the film. The first week we talked about 1. being able to use films as conversational tool with non-believers and 2. being able see spiritual fingerprints in culturally relevant films that can allow us to experience God in new ways when we start looking for themes of redemption and metaphors in these films. This Sunday will be the third week of the class as we look at good and evil in the movie “The Dark Knight”. I have found that doing this series has been something the students have enjoyed and has really helped me to look a little closer at some of my favorite films. Here is the syllabus for the class.

5 week Outline
Pirates of the Carribean 2 (the power of metaphor)
Dead Poets Society (coming of age)
the Dark Knight (good vs evil)
End of the Spear (Christian films and their message)
Hotel Rwanda (true stories)

Tweet This Post

Practices for unleashing student artists

radiantfirst — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:30:12 +0000

Last week I had the opportunity to participate in a podcast as a guest with Tim Schmoyer. I spoke about unleashing student artists and gave some practical ideas on how to do just that.

In reality unleashing student artists can be a pretty time consuming thing. One of the things Tim mentioned on the podcast was that it would be a lot of work to have students helping with the production of his videos. This is probably one of the biggest hurdles I have had to overcome is knowing that involving students on almost every task is nine times out of ten more work. Despite knowing this the reward is huge knowing that I am able to help future artists by giving them opportunities to help and fail now. Artists are so important in telling God’s story in a creative and captivating way and we as the church have an opportunity to raise up artists and propel them into areas such as the business world, hollywood and even the church.

Tweet This Post