Four Questions To Ask When Facing Obstacles
The end of the school year is often a time of evaluation. You and your team step back to access where, by God’s grace, you succeeded and where you ran into obstacles that kept you from reaching your desired goals.
Consider the following for questions when wrestling with the latter.
When facing obstacles ask:
- What do you/we need to STOP doing? (This is called planned abandonment.)
- Which of these obstacles do we simply need to see as an opportunity? (At times you just need to come at the obstacle from a different perspective.)
- Am I / Are we willing to fail? (We often gain more wisdom from our failures than from our successes.)
- What is God trying to reveal to me / us about our greatest limitation?
4 New Things at Challenge 2012
Today marks just 60 days until Challenge 2012, the EFCA’s bi-annual national student conference. Over 5000 people have already registered for what is going to be an incredible week in New Orleans.
I can’t say enough about the Challenge Team, all of whom are amateurs in the true sense of the word. The word amateur comes from the latin word “amatorem” which means “lover of”. Amateurs are those who do something without compensation simply for the sheer love for that which they are engaging in. In this sense, the Challenge team is made up of a bunch of amateurs.
Here are a few new things taking place at Challenge this year: Read the rest of this entry
Youth Group Starbucks?
I am sitting in Starbucks with my son today, John is working behind the counter. John is a super nice guy and is very helpful. When I come to the meca of coffee houses I usually order a grande, skinny, upside down, vanilla latte (pease don’t think less of me). John strives to be “legendary,” which is a Starbucks “buzzword,” and he is, he knows his Starbucks stuff. Read the rest of this entry
10 Stats + 10 Observations + 10 Reflections From Japan
This past week I had the chance to visit Japan along with Brian Cole, the EFCA ReachGlobal’s Director of Mobilization, and Dave Boerema, Student Ministry Pastor at Hershey EFCA. Our two primary objectives were to: Read the rest of this entry
Believe the Gospel
If you’re a Youth Worker and reading this, I have a couple guesses about you…
1. You’ve considered reading Hunger Games.
2. You have Toms.
3. Your last three sleepless nights have involved teenagers.
Am I a genius? No? Well, if I just struck out on all those predictions, here’s a better one… Read the rest of this entry
Disciplemaking Genius of Jesus – Part 9
By Bill Allison and Dave Garda- Cadre International Ministries (Posted with permission.)
See also: Part 1, Part 2,Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8
What are you obsessed about?
A woman was sipping on a glass of wine while sitting on the patio with her husband. She said, “I love you so much, I don’t know how I could ever live without you.”
Her husband asked, “Is that you, or the wine talking?”
She replied, “It’s me… and I’m talking to the wine.”
What is it that you can’t live without? What is your great obsession?
When I read the New Testament, I get the overwhelming sense that Jesus’ disciples were obsessed with Jesus. I know a lot of people who like Jesus. I know many who claim they love Jesus. But to be honest, I know very few people who seem to be obsessed with Jesus.
Are you obsessed with Jesus?
To find out why this is so important to disciplemaking, keep reading. Read the rest of this entry
7 Critical Questions Seniors Need to Wrestle
My friend, Derek Melleby, has just recently written a helpful little book that is a great tool to put in the hands of your seniors. Derek is the director for the College Transition Initiative for the Center of Parent and Youth Understanding (CPYU). He attends Hershey EFC, and will be one of our regular contributors on this blog. The reason I appreciate this book is that Derek takes the approach of a rabbi and asks profound questions rather than piling on more advice. He treats his readers like adults who can actually think on their own. The issues addressed are life shaping, so much so, that I think a better title for the book would be: “Make LIFE Count”. The significant questions Derek asks (listed below), if reflected on, will be a place of divine encounter that significantly help to set the trajectory of a young person’s life course. Read the rest of this entry
10 Questions to Ask Seniors
When a person leaves a business, the HR department often has an exit interview with the employee. Employers engage in such interviews to gain information on how they may improve the care of their people. This also allows for the transfer of knowledge to successors.
It seems to me that we miss a huge learning opportunity when we simply graduate seniors without taking the time to sit down with them individually or in small groups (no bigger than 3) to ask some intentional questions.
Here are some of my favorite “exit interview” questions to ask seniors:
1982 to 2012 Teen Comparison
Here is a great comparison between teens from 1982 and teens from 2012. Lots changes in a generation. What is the most surprising fact in the comparison to you? Read the rest of this entry
8 Steps to Creating a Great Senior Transition Plan
One of my favorite Andy Stanley quotes is: “Your church (or ministry) is perfectly designed to get you the results you are currently experiencing.” This is a relevant statement when it comes to transitioning High School seniors to college.
Do you have a clear, identified system for how you handle grade transitions?
Without a clear system (plan) in place, then the reality is you’re just hoping for the best.
Here are 8 steps to developing an intentional transition plan: Read the rest of this entry
