Chris Finchum's Blog

Most Important Part of Your Youth Meeting!

Chris Finchum — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:15:01 -0700

Be honest when you answer this question and don't give yourself the Sunday School answer. What is the most improtant part of your youth meeting? Not what should be the most important part but what is the most important. Is it the great ice breakers, slick videos, incredible worship, creative room decor, or can you honestly say it is the teaching of the Word of God. Most would say the teaching but in reality looking at many youth ministries today they would be wrong. If that is the case how do we take what is most important and make it most important in our weekly youth meetings. Here are a couple principles to consider.

Principle of Expectation/ Last week when you stood up to teach were you expecting God to change lives? Did you pray and prepare with life change in mind? If our end goal is life change it will affect how we prepare and how we communicate.

Application: 1. Pray individually and as a team of youth leaders before each youth meeting asking God to change lives with his Word. 2. As you prepare and communicate your talk remember the Bible is king, trust it and use it. I cannot expect life change if I am relying on my words, stories, and jokes.

Principle of Delegation/ To engage students in the learning process it is important that we use creative elements. These elements usually do not come together the hour before we teach. They must be thought out, planned, and delegated. If you choose not to plan and delegate the impact of your teaching will suffer.

Application: 1. Plan your teaching schedule at least 3 months out. This gives you time to communicate to your leaders the direction of your teaching, get their ideas, and delegate any outside involvment (drama, videos, props you need) for each message. 2. Develop a creative team of 3-5 students. Their role is simply to give you ideas from culture that will relate your topic to their age group.

What can you do in your ministry to make the teaching of the Word of God the most important

and exciting part of your night?

Voodoo Economics

Chris Finchum — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:13:12 -0700

Do you remember what going to school was like? Their were some classes you enjoyed, some you tolerated, and others that were flat out boring. The teachers voice was monotone, seemed to never be prepared, mainly lectured, and put you to sleep daily. Maybe you can relate to this clip from the 80's classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off Voodoo Economics (Click on Link). Much worse than boring students with History, English or Math is boring them with the Word of God. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 makes it clear that the answers our students need can be found in the Bible. Over the next couple weeks I am going to blog on 4 Principles to Enhance the Most Important Part of your Youth Meeting, the teaching of the Bible. To get us started lets look at 2 extremes we have to avoid.

Shallow Teaching/ this type of teaching is personality centered instead of Bible centered. Usually it is the best show in town because of the lights, videos, props, great stories, and funny jokes. Yet it is very light on the Bible. This type of teaching usually has no strategy and jumps from topic to topic. The result: Students leave saying wow that was cool but there is no life change.

Boring Teaching/ this type of teaching is heavy on content, low on life application, usually lecture style, may even read the lesson word for word from a curriculum. There is usually no student involvement in the learning process. The result: Students leave saying the Bible is boring and there is no life change.

Do you find yourself leaning to one extreme? Are you satisfied with your teaching of the Bible? Give us your thoughts and lets learn together to better communicate the unchanging message of the Bible in a way that is relevant to the culture in which we live.

Next Blog Post: The Principle of Expectation

Are you second string?

Chris Finchum — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:42:08 -0700

As a parent one of the things I pray most for is that God will keep my children safe. I can remember going to the extreme with this and when our first child was born literally praying on a regular basis that no one would drop my son. If you are a parent you can probably relate. When our children are sick or hurt we take them to the doctor and expect the best. Imagine one day finding out that your child has a major heart problem that requires immediate attention. Would you go to the hospital and ask for the intern or guy that just got out of school and has never worked on a heart? No way, you would want the best doctor available to take care of your most prized possesion. Unfortunatly within church world youth and children's ministry is sometimes looked at as second string. It is for the people that aren't yet qualified to work with adults but have energy and potential. Why would we settle for a second string team when dealing with a students soul? As you look at your ministry/organization, are the people working with children and students second stringers? If so why and how can you change this culture? Here are a couple thoughts.

Recruit the Best! Instead of looking for the coolest person in your church to work with youth, look for leaders. These are people with a track record of excellence in other areas of life. If they love God, young people, and have a teachable spirit you can train them to do the rest. Who are the 5 best leaders in your church and have you ever approached them about working with youth?

Don't be a second string leader! If you are going to lead a team of growing leaders then the assumption is that you must be a growing leader. Have you noticed that it is hard for you to attract quality people to serve in the youth ministry? If so take a look in the mirror. If you were a growing leader looking for a place to invest your time and gifts would you follow you? If not, start with some basic disciplines like daily time in God's Word, reading good leadership books, and excercising on a regular basis.

Over the next weeks and months my prayer is that through this blog we can diolog on topics that will assist us all in being Godly Leaders in our organizations. Lets not settle for second string!