Monthly Archives: June 2011
The Biggest Hindrance to Prayer
I wish someone would have talked to me “straight up” about the hindrances I was going to experience when it came to practicing prayer as the foundation for my ministry. I can remember people hinting that the “busyness” of ministry would get in the way of my prayer time. I needed to watch my calendar. I needed to schedule it. I needed to not schedule it at 11:00 p.m. at night or I wouldn’t be awake through my prayer time. There were several other thoughts here and there that well-meaning people tried to point out. Read the rest of this entry
TOOL BOX: Water Balloons!
I shared a few of my favorite gadgets with a group of youth pastors and one of those gadgets was this water balloon filler that you see on the left, it is 100x better than the typical nozzle you get in a bag of water balloons as pictured here on the right. Within minutes of sharing I received a facebook message from Youth worker Mark Eades saying “Brandon Early, you made me go do a little more digging for water balloon supplies and I came across this…” This water balloon filler blew my mind, I assure you this will be part of my youth ministry arsenal very soon. Check out this video below!
Rebound 2011
Do you have adequate inflow for sustainable overflow? You’ve come out of a full school year ministering to others and my guess would be that your summer isn’t one you’d describe with words like “restful” and “refreshing.” For years I always said summer was over August 1 because my full attention shifted to the upcoming school year.
I want to encourage you to make a wise decision to build into your calendar now some blocks of time through the next months for some extended, unhurried time to be with Jesus.
While you’re blocking off time, why don’t you block off November 12-15, 2011 to join us in Melbourne, Florida just after the fall launch and retreats for an intentional getaway with other ministry leaders.
Momentum 2011
Being part of a larger ministry is not better…it’s just bigger. We may not all agree on everything bigger means, but one common denominator that bigger always means is that it is more complex. If you are part of a ministry that is regularly ministering to 100+ students, consider joining us for Momentum 2011, November 10-12, immediately preceding Rebound.
Challenge 2012
Want to move beyond a mountain top in order to build missional momentum? Then plan to be a part of Challenge in New Orleans July 1-6, 2012. Together, we’ll challenge students to live on mission with God everyday, everywhere, forever. Logistical information is on the website.
FREE Live Curriculum
Simply Youth Ministry’s Live Curriculum has been a great tool for me as a youth pastor. I value solid Biblical teaching, equipping leaders, and saving my leaders prep time and this offers all that. I have been using both the junior high and senior high Live Curriculum for over a year now and have received great feedback from our leaders and students. Live Curriculum gives us 144 weeks of solid Bible teaching broken down in a format easy for any youth worker to teach through. Each lesson is easily customizable for a seasoned small group leader or is ready “as is” for my rookie leaders. Each lesson has clear objectives, great talk points, and handouts for student note-taking. A few of my favorite features include short questions to send to students prior to our meetings (via text or facebook), parent emails to be sent out after your group has met (keeping them in the loop), as well as a great online resource to help distribute critical information (announcements, calendar, lessons, etc.) to your adult leaders. There are also iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android apps associated with the Live Curriculum. Together these elements have set up our students, parents, and leaders for success. Read the rest of this entry
A Word from Shane- Think Three!
How clear is your disciplemaking vision? This is a critical question that every youth worker needs to ask (and every follower of Jesus for that matter).The more I study the life of Jesus, the clearer I see His disciplemaking genius. It’s not only His message or His character that informs us, but also His chosen methods. Maybe in our search for effective methods and models it would be wise for us to take a Sabbath from the blogs, books and conferences in order to saturate ourselves in the 1st century practices of Jesus and adapt them to our 21st century context.
One of the clearest places I see Jesus’ disciplemaking vision is in His prayer in John 17. The prayer seems to be a summary of His life priorities and the intended outcome He was looking for when He began His public ministry by drawing a few disciples to Himself (Mark 1:17). Take a minute to read through John 17. No, seriously, turn away from the computer, grab your Bible and walk through the text. You think I’m kidding? I’m not! You need to see Jesus’ words first hand. Read the rest of this entry
FREE Resource Helping Students Live on Mission Back Home
Heading on mission with your students this summer? What about living on mission when you return? My friend, Carl Blunt and his ministry “LifeBook” can put a FREE tool in your hands to help your students stay engaged in the mission when they return home.
The Life Book Movement helps mobilize your students as missionaries to their schools. During a short-term “mission trip,” your students hand out free copies of The Life Book to their classmates during school. At no cost to you or your ministry, Life Books are provided so your students can hand out about 50 apiece during this mission focus. The Life Book serves as a great evangelistic tool, providing the gospel in a contemporary translation with relevant, interactive elements. The Life Book Movement was founded by The Gideons International in 2009 and, since its inception, over half a million copies of The Life Book have been handed out by students during school. 1.2 million copies of The Life Book are being printed for distribution by students during the coming 2011-2012 school year. Our mission is to serve youth ministries by helping them raise up a generation of student missionaries who take the gospel first to their classmates and then to the world.
Go to http://www.thelifebook.com now for more information. We only have 1.2 million Life Books for the coming school year and they are going fast.
(See what Doug Fields has to say about The Life Book here: http://www.thelifebook.com/ym-welcome-ad-2011.php)
College as Calling?
If you could put all of your thoughts, feelings and emotions about to college into one word, what would that one word be? I like to ask this question when speaking to college bound high school students. Most often I hear the following: scared, nervous, stress, money, freedom, party, excited, adventure and opportunity. I then challenge the group to consider another word: Calling. Should college simply be the assumed next step after high school or should we be thinking more deeply about this major decision? What would it look like if we thought of college as a calling? Read the rest of this entry
