Jounal to the Rescue

When I was a teenager I developed the habit of journaling. I’ve done it off and on since that time. I drill it into my students that they need to do it, too.

I’m glad I practice what I preach. Today I read through some entries from May of this year. It reminded me of some lessons I was learning at the time and encouraged me to get back on track developing those things in my life.

Journaling for me is like a time capsule to my past, a point of reference to measure progress and a kick in the butt to use what I learn.

Ministry Lessons: 5 Ways to Create a Healthy Small Group Environment

The high school pastor of my church posted this on his blog today. Great stuff. I could steal it and post it on my blog, but thought I’d point you to it instead. There’s a lot of good stuff on his blog. Look around on it for a while and enjoy.

Click here to go to his post about creating a healthy small group environment.

Lesson Helpers: Videos I Used To Introduce My Lesson Tonight

Cox Communications has a funny ad campaign going right now. It fit in perfect with our lesson tonight, but I’m sure these commercials have other applications, too. We were talking about how Paul said in Romans that the law helped him realize his sinfulness.

The key line in each of these commercials is “I wonder what else I don’t know?” We had a good laugh and then began the lesson about how God’s law shows us what we wouldn’t know without it. The lesson had some other great points, but this was a great way to get started. Students had a lot of great input. It was a great night.

Also, I showed these using my iPhone. If you don’t have one, you should consider getting one. I didn’t have to mess with burning a DVD or putting the videos on a VHS tape. My iPhone is becoming an incredibly useful ministry tool.

Ministry Lessons: Quick Tip – Interrupted Conversations

Frequently when having a private chat with a student, our conversation be interrupted by others passing by. It’s a love/hate thing. I love students so I don’t want to snub anybody, but I would hate to devalue the student I’m talking to by ending the conversation prematurely. If the situation permits it, I’ll have a quick conversation with the person interrupting and then get back to the one-on-one conversation.

During the interruption I always put my hand on the shoulder of the student I was having the one-on-one conversation with. By doing this I communicate I haven’t forgotten about him and I don’t want him to sneak away before we’re done… especially if he initiated our talk or is pouring out his heart. This little action has been very helpful to me. I believe it also drops a pretty good hint to the “intruder” that I want to get back to the conversation I was having.

Although I always do this intentionally, I never gave much thought to what the student thought about it until the other day. A conversation got interrupted, I reached back and put my hand on the kid’s shoulder until we could continue. When we got back to our chat he commented that he appreciated knowing that I hadn’t forgotten him. At that moment I thought to myself that I should put this on my blog in hopes this little action may help others. His comment also warmed me up on the inside a little. I was kind of stoked he picked up on the way I was showing he was important.

Valuing students at times is as easy as letting them know they’re not forgotten or cast aside to elevate others.

(I realize there are conversations that need to be moved to an environment suited for counseling, but this is typically involving conversations a step below that)

Ministry Lessons: Teachable Moment

This morning I had a text message conversation with a student who was trying to justify using foul language on Facebook. Because I’ve built a culture of accountability with my students, he knows I’ll confront him in love when I saw what he posted. His goal was to do some damage control on the front end.

I took his name out of the image below.

The conversation speaks for itself. While the illustration I used is a little graphic, it made the point I was going after. My student learned what I was teaching and I felt good about the interaction. By using his logic to help him understand my point, the message hit home. This teachable moment was a great ministry opportunity.

I hope this encounter helps fellow volunteer youth workers steer a confrontational conversation toward positive change.

Teachable Moment through Text Messaging about Facebook