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Video Interview: Marla Gives Advice For New Volunteer Youth Workers

This is part 2 of a 4-part interview with Tom and Marla. In this segment, Marla, a 14-year veteran volunteer, answers questions and gives great advice about dealing with big issues in the lives of students.

Here are links to the videos in this series:
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Be sure to also check out the brief comments below the video.

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There are a few things I love about this video series:
– It was videotaped by a student volunteer. This was a great way for him to see some of the heart behind what we do as leaders.
– The video is not professional… much like our service as volunteers. The interview isn’t polished, the camera is shaky, and there are no makeup artists. It’s just regular folks talking about a mutual passion: reaching out to students through ministry
– It’s a good start for other topical interviews to be done in the future

Stealthy Leadership

I’ve stumbled across a stealthy youth ministry idea lately that I will be intentional about from now on.

I’ve been carrying a book in the side pocket of my cargo shorts lately. I’ve also had a magazine in my car. Both have led to some interesting conversations and a great observation.

The questions I’ve been asked about the book have allowed me to tell students and other leaders about this entertaining book that also teaches a lot about the culture behind the Bible. I’ll review the book in a future post.

The other day students in my car picked up the book an magazine and read segments from each resource to out loud. It was very entertaining & educational. The sweet thing is I didn’t ask them to do this, they just did it out of curiosity.

The youth ministry principles I discovered is that I should:

1. Keep reading because it makes my mind sharper – more on that in a future post

2. Keep reading materials around that I want my students to be exposed to. Their curiosity will get them to look through it & maybe be inspired to read it.

Here’s a sneak peak at a future post I’ll write on the subject of reading: Rick Warren says, “Once you stop learning, you stop leading.” You can only lead students as far as you have gone yourself.

Ministry Alumni

Last night I threw a party for college students who had either been in my small group, camp cabin or mission trip village during their high school years. Besides having a lot of fun and catching up on each others’ lives, there are a few benefits to doing this:

– If any have wandered from the faith, it’s a good time for them to be reminded about how good life was when they were connected with God
– For those who need a boost moving on with life, this is a great way for them to get inspired
– My personal favorite is planting the seed for them to become volunteers with our high school ministry.

We had an amazingly fun time.

Shedding Light on Dishonesty

It happened again this week. A former student told me something to make me believe something that wasn’t entirely true. He wanted me to believe the information the way I heard it. However, he left out some details so I wouldn’t know what really happened. The crazy thing is there was no reason for him to lie… which is what he did by leading me to believe something that wasn’t true by the way he presented the information.

All of this happened by text message this week. Tonight when I brought it to his attention by text message, there was no response. I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. I’d rather him think about being found out for a while instead of him trying to worm his way out of being caught.

The point of sharing this is to encourage other youth workers to share the one line every youth worker needs to use in this specific situation. When students try to wiggle their way out by saying they didn’t lie, you just didn’t ask the right questions… yada, yada, this one question will fillet them open exposing their lie in a way they can’t deny.

And the question is… drum roll please… “What did you want me to believe when you said (quote back what they said) to me?”

Therein lies the lie.

Students lack integrity because they’re in a no-fault, value-trampling society. A great part of being a youth worker is instilling those values into them. It’s not an easy task because the world has them for most of their lives. We only have them for an hour or two each week.

Fun With An Atheist

Update: To see the video of the interview I did with Alex, click here

Yesterday I wrote about my friend Alex, an Atheist, who is going to come to the high school Bible study I teach on Wednesday night. The most popular response I’ve seen to inviting Alex as an Atheist to help me with this Bible study is a cringe. It’s not because nobody wants an Atheist there. Rather, it’s because they’re afraid I’m being insensitive to Alex by bringing him in for that reason. Alex, however, is happy to do it.

I love his sense of humor as illustrated in our e-mail exchange below. We’ve struck up a great relationship. It’s not that I take his spiritual condition lightly. I just know he’s on his way to becoming a Christian. His days as an Atheist are numbered. I’ve told him this often. Because of his impending salvation, and his insistence that it’s not going to happen, we’ve been able to have a little humor over this in the context of an growing friendship.