I lead a drama/media team of teenagers at my church.  Every once in a while I feel a need to accomplish something BIG together.  We find projects that our bigger than ourselves and take up an entire weekend or numerous saturdays…but everyone rallies together and we accomplish it.  I like the story in the gospels when Jesus is speaking to the five thousand and his disciples come to him saying the people are hungry.  Jesus says "You feed them"  Jesus is calling the disciples with their limited resources "five loaves and two fish" to perform a miracle.  He is calling them to depend on His resources to do something unthinkable. This year I decided to challenge our student drama/media team to participate in one of the largest christian film competitions in the US….the 168 Film Project.   We will have 168 hours to write, shoot and edit a 11 minute short film based on a bible verse.  Check out the film below we did two years ago.

I get frustrated from time to time during the creative process.  Most of the frustration comes from not having a finely tuned process.  The difficult thing is that sometimes the creative process is messy and sometimes messy does not lend well to a process or system.  Systems are great for assembly lines and standardized products, however when you use an assembly line to create a video or piece of artwork…you may be in for something you didn't hope for.  I'm not saying we should have no systems in the creative process….however the systems have to be elastic and allow room for the messy parts of creativity to take place. 

Below is a system I have created when creating creative videos.  I don't always use this system, however when I do I find that things work out better in the end.

1. have a mtg with your leadership team to discuss the next series or sermons and overall direction.
2. meet with yourself to brainstorm some ideas to bring to the table
3. meet with a creative team to flesh out some of your ideas and to come up with more ideas
4. meet with yourself again to fine-tune these ideas
5. present these ideas to your leadership team and ask for feedback before moving forward
6. meet with yourself again and make changes based on feedback
7. create the project
8. show the project (if time allows) to the leadership team and see if changes need to be made

I use volunteers a lot in order to get my job done.  I have volunteers edit video projects, shoot events, write and collaborate with me in a variety of ways? Time and time again I get let down by these volunteers who I truly do enjoy working with.  Often times it is not intentional by them, they just let you down.  They may not show up for a shoot, or forget to drop off equipment.  I've had volunteers who have broken cameras, lost expensive stuff and wasted time editing a project that I could have done in a matter of minutes.  Some times I get frustrated and would rather not use them at all, however other times I can't get it all done by myself.  I have learned that I have to have an appropriate measure of grace when working with volunteers and remind myself they are not paid and do not have the skill/training that I myself might have.  I have also learned to double-check with them on everything.  Are you sure you are going to be there?  Just to be clear you are going to drop off the footage at this time on this day.  I have to be extra clear when working with volunteers because I can't expect them to read my mind.

I recently got an Iphone 4 a couple of months ago and one of the features i love about it is the picture quality and ability to take pictures in reverse. I took my d_group (discipleship group) of 10th grade guys to chilis and a movie on saturday and we were able to snap a pic without a third party there to take it. When I got home I was able to upload it to twitter and facebook. Soon some of the students who didn’t participate with us chimed in and commented on the pic wishing they had joined in. Telling your story is more important than you think and thanks to technology is easier than ever before. Find ways that you can not just tell your story but encourage others to do the same.

Recently we handed a bunch of gift cards from sonic and starbucks to our small group leaders in our student ministry.  The purpose of doing this was to encourage and help leaders financially meet with students outside of church.  We wanted to give out pre-paid visa cards to the leaders, however we discovered a $5 fee that prevented us from being able to do this.  How do you equip your volunteer leaders financially?

In the past week, there have been numerous reportings of students being cyber-bullied on the internet, some of which have taken their lives. Hearing this news saddened me and begin to put questions in my mind if it could happen where I live.

In the old skewl days if you had a problem with someone, a note might get passed about you or gossip initiated among friends.  Today, however if someone gets upset with someone they can post something hateful on their facebook profile or text all their friends the latest gossip.

Just this week students I knew who are in our youth ministry who attend our church thought it would be funny to hi-jack someone’s facebook profile and put hateful things on there.

I believe it is our role as youth leaders to teach and lead students to live lives above reproach not just at school but on the internet.

What are your thoughts???

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.

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.

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?