What’s next?

I believe that the Youth Ministry position is the most challenging position on a church staff.

I have said this for years during our orientation at camp where there are Youth Ministers and sponsors in the room. Often there are Pastors and other staff members present. Rarely has anyone challenged me.

There are several things that make the Youth Ministry position challenging. The short list is teens, parents, and supervisors. But none of these are the BIG ONE.

The BIG ONE is that the Youth Minister on church staff is the only staff member who has to ask the question, What’s next?

Every other person on staff can do what they are doing until they retire. A Youth Minister will most likely do something else.

So in the midst of all of the other things that a Youth Minister has to deal with, there is eventually this nagging question of, What’s next?

Once this question enters your headspace, it doesn't go away. I’ve learned this from those that have heard this speech.

It is not a reason to be discouraged or to give up. It is a reason to begin to dream of a transition where you will continue to be fulfilled in your God given call.

In the meantime, keep crushing it. There are great days ahead!

When is the best time to recalibrate?

Let me speculate here. Most of us don’t intentionally recalibrate in order to maintain optimum health, whether physically or organizationally. We tend to recalibrate when something breaks.

A well timed calibration can help you evaluate on schedule and can become an effective system in your organization.

My default on deep work includes these three things:

• People–do I want someone or others to be a part of the recalibration process? This is a good leadership process when you develop a rhythm that systematically evaluates your ministry.

• Place–where can you go to eliminate distractions and do deep work? If you don’t have a default location, then be creative and find a stimulating place. Experiment and keep a list of good places.

• Process–how will you evaluate? The most reliable measure is your vision. How is your vision becoming a reality? What steps or programs are getting traction and bearing fruit? Don’t be guilty of only evaluating attendance. This is important, but try to determine the narrative of the number. There is always a story behind the numbers. Pay attention to the story.

Remember that there is a natural pull away from the pursuit of vision. Our rhythm moves from week to week and if we are not careful we drift off course. Taking time to periodically recalibrate will strengthen your process.

Dig through the “No’s” to find the “Yes”

Guest blog - Wes Henson, part 2

We’ve all been there: you need another camp sponsor, or another Middle School boys small group leader. But how do you find them?

Years ago I found myself in need of a female camp sponsor. I was serving in a small church in a small community and the task ahead of me was tall. So I set out to find a female camp sponsor. I don’t remember the names of everyone I asked, but I do remember the number: 9.

The ninth lady I asked finally agreed to go to camp as a sponsor. That means I got 8 no’s before I got a yes. But I kept asking. This may feel like a failure, but the lesson was waiting for me.

More recently, over the last six years, I’ve almost tripled the number of adults we have serving in the ministry on a weekly basis with one principle: sometimes you have to dig through the “no’s” to find the “yes”. Put another way, every “no” is a step closer to the person who will say “yes”.

Leadership development does not only pertain to students. Adults need leadership development as well. But a willing adult leader is better than a gifted but unwilling adult leader.

So be willing to dig to find the yes’s, and you’ll be well on your way.

Wes Henson

www.threequestionleadership.com

Cast the Leadership Net – Who do you invite into leadership?

Guest blog - Wes Henson, part 1

When it comes to inviting students and adults into leadership, where do we start?

Years ago I started to invite students to be part of our leadership team. We had a “kickoff” trip followed by a mix of weekly and monthly meetings. I had two girls who showed leadership potential and I invited them to join the team. Initially they resisted but I stuck with the invitation and convinced them to join us.

Fast forward a few months and they had essentially stepped out of our leadership team. I would remind them, but they were resistant. Looking back, I see the mistake I made.

I would rather help someone who is willing to grow than someone who seems naturally gifted to lead but not willing to grow.

I still invite students to join our leadership team, especially ones in whom I see leadership potential, but I have stopped trying to convince them to participate in our leadership program.

Why? Because willingness beats ability.

I would rather have a student who is willing to experiment, grow, struggle, and succeed at leadership because they are hungry to grow, than to have someone we have to drag to keep up with the team.

Our leadership net is wide. We invite everyone to join. Don’t get me wrong, we set the bar for leaders high, and we have a team for them to join, but it’s not exclusive beyond a willingness to contribute and participate.

You never know who is waiting to be invited, either. Which leads me to maybe the greatest lesson I’ve learned in the last 6 years about recruiting adults to help with student ministry. Because leadership development doesn’t only happen in teenagers.

Wes Henson, Student Minister, Trinity Baptist, Kerrville, TX

Student Ministry Leadership

When thinking about Student Ministry leadership there are at least two relevant points of emphasis:

1. Developing leaders.

2. Providing leadership for your Student ministry.

Each of these points hold equal significance.

Look at it this way. Developing leaders is making disciples and providing leadership is serving.

When these two elements are present in your ministry, you have a shared ministry model that promotes growth and membership engagement.

With this model in mind, you are not the only one aware of the vision for the Student Ministry or the only one accountable to the vision.

Your Student Leadership becomes your partner in ministry.

Here is a guide to help think about how your Student Ministry leadership becomes your partner in ministry:

Communicate–use every means possible to communicate with your leadership the purpose of the event. Don’t rely on digital communication alone. Conduct a stand up meeting (huddle) 30 minutes before events to reinforce the purpose of the event, go over specific assignments, and pray.

Observation–pay attention to what is happening in the room. Encourage leadership to be ready to share observations and offer feedback.

Evaluation–meet up again after the event to get quick feedback. You can do deeper evaluation the next day or at your next planning meeting.

These three quick hits will create a pattern of ownership and will be one part of training leadership to becoming a partner in ministry.

Creating a leadership culture

Everything you do is a part of your culture–your room, your messaging, training, enlistment and the list goes on. The question for us is, what are we doing to influence the leadership culture in our ministry?

You are already doing every one of the things listed above, but are you doing them intentionally or accidentally?

Taking intentional steps will create a shared understanding of the vision, purpose and values of your Student Ministry.

Your decisions will start to reflect behaviors within your organization that will influence how you collectively think and operate. You will start to look like a team.

Your shared purpose will sync your organization and the steps of growth will become rhythmic and systematic. When it is not in sync, it will be easier to determine and adjustments can be implemented.

A healthy leadership culture draws attention. People become curious, They want to know how to be a part and strength begins to build on strength.

A leadership culture creates member engagement. This is when you have momentum. John Maxwell repeatedly says, momentum is your best friend.

Take a hard look at your culture. What have you created? How can you begin a more intentional shift?

Creating an inviting culture

Everything you do is a part of your culture. So there are many things to consider when it comes to creating an inviting culture.

The basic framework for an inviting culture is meeting space, branding, and programming. Each of these is unique to each ministry and is met with varying degrees of expertise. This basic framework is important and reinforces the culture you seek to create.

Building on the basic framework, consider your language, ownership and opportunity. Then celebrate the fruit.

Language–bring a friend. Say it often. Sure your slides, social media and brochures are on brand but are you talking about it? You talk about the things that are important to you. Do your students know that reaching students is important to you?

Ownership–the innovation loop includes others. When others are included in creating the culture, they participate and advocate for the mission. They understand the vision, generate ideas for accomplishing the vision and give feedback on the progress. You need these people in the loop.

Opportunities–students need something to invite their friends to. Special events are a given, but focus on how to establish this in your weekly programming as well. Messaging will be tricky. You don’t want to become like the Sunday morning announcements, so be creative in messaging the opportunities.

Celebrate–you need to be careful for sure, but encouraging those who are inviting others is important. Affirming words go a long way in creating culture. When introducing someone who has been invited you can mention the person that invited them. When someone is baptized, recognize those who played a role inviting them.

In a recent Student Ministry we created an invitation tree of those that started attending and inviting others. The tree represented several generations that all started with one invitation. We shared the tree as an example of what was taking place in the ministry and how we could continue to reach others.

Start rethinking your culture basics and beyond.

An Event You Can’t Miss

If you stand before your students to announce an event and say the words, “you can’t miss this event”, you better be prepared to deliver. While it sounds overwhelming, the process is simple.

It is understood that any event will have scheduling conflicts. That shouldn’t keep you from doing outreach events. The first step to your can’t miss event is scheduling. Gather all of your calendar resources and pick a date. You can evaluate later.

Give yourself 4-6 weeks lead time to market the event. Use every normal means at your disposal, but do not limit yourself to these. Like everyone, students have information fatigue. As you plan, challenge your team to experiment with unique approaches. It may help to identify businesses that do this well like Nike, Apple, Insurance, etc.

Be creative in your concept and execution. The concept doesn’t have to be extravagant. I’ve shared previously that our best event was a middle school black out night, and all of our promotions just said, “Don’t Miss This, Wear Black, Bring a Friend.” We had record attendance that night.

Don’t try this by yourself. Bring a team around you-your dream team and come up with ideas. Collaboration is a necessity for these kinds of events.

In the end you want students to experience F.O.M.O. (fear of missing out). If they are talking about it the next day, then you are on the right track.

After the event, do good follow up. Make sure you talk about what is coming up next week and invite students to the next step

Don’t miss the can’t miss. You may never get a second chance.