Jesus and Teenagers (A Youth Ministry Blog) - Benjer McVeigh

---

What if You Were the First Youth Pastor Ever?

Posted: 09 Aug 2011 04:58 AM PDT

Imagine this: You wake up one day to discover that you are now in an alternate universe. Everything about your world is essentially the same, with one exception: youth ministry as we know it has never existed. Perhaps Jim Rayburn gave up ministry to become an auto mechanic, or maybe Wayne Rice convinced Mike Yaconelli one night before the creation of Youth Specialties to join his bluegrass band, and the pair spent the rest of their lives as a highly-rated duo singing songs about squirrels--"Pharaoh, Pharaoh" never saw the light of day. Whatever the reason, in this alternate universe Doug Fields is the most successful Farmer's Insurance agent in southern California, Josh Griffin helps run a popular Star Wars fanboy website works nights at a computer repair shop in Winnemucca, NV, and Kara Powell heads up the Classified Research Division of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The world has never heard of Youth Specialties, Purpose-Driven Youth Ministry, Young Life, Youth Ministry 3.0, or Fluffy Bunny.

Today in this alternate universe, you are beginning a job at your church. After attending the church for a few years, you've been tapped to help the church carry out a specific task: help teenagers in your church and community know Jesus and live for him. Remember, you're the pioneer in this whole youth ministry thing, and you might be the first youth pastor ever.

My question is this: what five resources would you have on your side if you could choose them? By resources, I don't just mean curriculum or stuff you can get off the internet. I'm using the term in the broad sense, which would include not just physical resources, but also some intangibles that are harder to measure, such as a great relationship with your senior pastor or a committed core of parents. Feel free to think a bit outside the box, as I try to below.

I know that defining the youth pastor position as a job, I've already stepped outside the bounds for some of you in terms of how you would shape this thing we call Youth Ministry had you the chance to start it all over. But, I wanted to narrow the scope of the question a bit. Here's how I answer the question:

1. A great marriage. One of the biggest strengths for me in ministry is my wife, Jennifer. She's an amazing encouragement, and when I give her, our marriage, and our family the time and energy they deserve, ministry just seems to go a lot smoother.

2. A passionate, visionary senior pastor who is passionate about people knowing Jesus. Thankfully, this one is true for me where I am right now. A lot of youth pastors wish their senior pastor would support them and the youth ministry more. Those are probably good things, but I think it simply starts with a senior pastor who is passionate about people knowing Jesus, which helps determine the direction of his/her church's youth ministry.

3. A core group of parents who believe that they should be the primary disciplers of their children. Look, we know that this is how it's supposed to work: parents should be the primary disciplers of their children, including their teenagers. A group of parents who were passionate about this would be a huge asset in helping other parents grow in this area. Of course, not all parents will want to disciple their kids--or will even have a relationship with Jesus for that matter. But it doesn't mean we don't set it up as the ideal.

4. A core group of missionary-minded students. One of my critiques about the common critiques of modern youth ministry is this: those critiques often only take into account the small percentage of teenagers who are followers of Jesus and are a part of our churches. Yes, we need to encourage parents more and stop trying to do their jobs for them. Yes, we need to stop separating the teenagers in our youth ministry from the broader church. But what about those teenagers who desperately need to know that God loves them and that his Son died on the cross so they might have life in Jesus? Not only are they not in our church's worship services or youth ministry, too often they're not on our radar. And guess what? It's not the job of the youth pastor to connect with all those teenagers and tell them about Jesus. It's the job of the teenagers in your church! Our job is to equip them, and when the teenagers we serve are passionate about being missionaries wherever God has placed them, the sky really is the limit.

5. A loving group of mature adults who love mentoring teenagers. It was tough to decide what would be the last item on this list, but I think it has to be mature, mentoring adults. And note that these adults don't necessarily need to be a part of the "official" youth ministry team. When it's part of a church's culture to love teenagers naturally, and teenagers are mentored and nourished in their faith by several loving adults, those teenagers are far more likely to make an impact for the Kingdom, wherever God places them.

So, that's the list. What would you put in your list of five resources if you were the first youth pastor ever?

Jesus and Teenagers (A Youth Ministry Blog) - Benjer McVeigh

---

Center for Student Missions Trip - San Francisco

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 04:58 AM PDT

Last month, we took 42 students and 11 adults from our church to San Francisco on an inner-city mission trip through Center for Student Missions (CSM). It was a fantastic trip (feel free to see our trip's Facebook page for some more insight), and I'm really glad we went. It was my second trip with CSM (the first was with two small churches on a trip to Chicago a few years ago), so I knew I could trust the organization to host a meaningful trip where we not only served, but we learned about God's heart for those who live in the city and how we can love and serve people when we got back home.

If you're a church looking for a good, affordable mission trip for teenagers or college students, I'll give you the short version first: CSM is a great organization to work with, and they've got sites in several U.S. cities (and in Toronto as well), making travel by vans or cars relatively easy.

If you'd like a few more details, here's the longer (but not too long) version: The thing I like most about CSM is their philosophy of ministry and missions: they partner with ministries that are already "on the ground," so you know that you're supporting ministries that have been serving faithfully before you got there, and they'll continue serving faithfully long after you leave. This is no "parachute" in operation where a youth ministry jumps into a situation, feels good about the perceived difference it makes for all of five days, then leaves without affecting any real change. That's a must for me when working with a missions organization, and it's a core part of who they are.

Another thing I really like about CSM is their staff. No matter how large of a group you bring, you'll be divided (by you, of course, not by CSM) into groups of 10-15 students and adults--for us it was 10 people per group. Each group serves together for the whole week, and has one CSM staff member (a "host") who leads the group's week of serving. The amount of organization that goes into planning a week of serving is incredible--not only does each CSM site build relationships with great ministries and organizations, but they have to make sure they schedule everything correctly to make sure the right people show up at the right places. Chad, our junior high pastor, commented that it would have taken us months and hours and hours of work just to schedule where we would serve during the week. The hosts do a great job managing our schedule, letting us know beforehand what each ministry site will be like, and sometimes making last minute modifications when something changes with the ministry site's schedule or needs.

Probably the only downsides to our week was some confusion in the pre-trip planning (mostly regarding the number of vans we needed and how many students we could bring), as well as some issues regarding our group's size. Serving in smaller groups was a HUGE win, but it made it tough to keep connected with leaders who weren't in my particular group (something I share the blame for). It also made for several confusing mornings and evenings, because there were times when our groups were literally going in five different directions, and there was very little time for us to be together as one large group and simply ask, "how's everybody doing?" As a youth pastor, I enjoyed my previous trip with CSM to Chicago more, where we brought six students and three adults.

After processing the trip for the past four weeks, I can safely say that we would use CSM again, and I definitely recommend them to any of my YM colleagues. It's a relatively inexpensive trip for what you get (for 2011, CSM charges $390 for six nights and five days, which includes all meals--check with them for special pricing for college students). Of course, other expenses are involved such as travel as well as parking/tolls when we were in the city.

If you've ever partnered with CSM before, I'd love to hear about your experiences!

Jesus and Teenagers (A Youth Ministry Blog) - Benjer McVeigh

---

Video of the Week: Rich Mullins

Posted: 05 Aug 2011 04:58 AM PDT

Love this video from a Rich Mullins concert...it brings up a lot of questions and lively theological debate (especially surrounding baptism), but don't let that distract you from main point:

Jesus and Teenagers (A Youth Ministry Blog) - Benjer McVeigh

---

13 Statements and Questions to Drive Your Youth Pastor into Early Retirement....

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 04:58 AM PDT

...or perhaps more aptly titled, "13 Statements and Questions to Drive Your Youth Pastor into Quitting and Taking a Job at Starbucks."

The title was shamelessly lifted from a post on "13 Statements and Questions to Drive Your Pastor into Early Retirement," and I figured a companion post on youth pastors ought not to be far behind:

1. "Why have all those unchurched kids been hanging around our church?"

2. "The budget's just too tight this year...but we're working on getting you on board full-time next year!"

3. "Why don't we ever do a [enter name of popular program or event] like [enter the name of a larger church with a larger youth ministry down the street]?"

4. "When is your wife (or husband) going to get involved in the youth ministry with you?"

5. "My daughter is having trouble with [name of another girl in her small group]. Could you please move [that girl] to another small group?"

6. "But [name of former youth pastor] ALWAYS let us [enter irresponsible and unsafe act]."

7. "(High school guy who has dated and broken up with eight girls in your church): "I've been spending a lot of time in prayer, and I really think God is telling me to date [name of yet another girl in your church]."

8. "Thursday night is your anniversary dinner with your wife? Don't worry, you can come late to the meeting when your dinner's over."

9. "All those teenagers from your youth group have been too much of a distraction for our other congregants during worship service. Couldn't you start a worship service just for them in the youth room?"

10. "Do a Bible study at home with my daughter? No, she gets all the Bible she needs at church."

11. "Sorry, we just can afford to send our son on the mission trip this year. Besides, it's the same week as our annual summer trip to Italy."

12. "I've been meaning to talk to you about my daughter: I think she would make a better lead singer for the youth worship band than that girl you've got in there right now."

13. "When are you going to become a real pastor?"

Jesus and Teenagers (A Youth Ministry Blog) - Benjer McVeigh

---

Sermon: Joy in Christ Alone (or, Religion vs. Relationship with Jesus)

Posted: 04 Aug 2011 04:58 AM PDT

I preached this sermon this past Sunday at our Washington Heights campus. Definitely one of those sermons I was preaching at myself:

"In Christ Alone"_July 31, 2011 from The Heights Community on Vimeo.

Jesus and Teenagers (A Youth Ministry Blog) - Benjer McVeigh

---

Eight Sentences on Why Theology is Important

Posted: 03 Aug 2011 04:58 AM PDT

We often treat theology like the Discovery Channel: it's good for learning some interesting information, but in the end, we never really learn much that really affects our day-to-day routine.

Theology is simply these three things: 1) The study of God; 2) The study of God's creation (including humans); and 3) the study of how the previous two items relate to one another. Theology need not be dusty. Instead, theology ought to be a passionate discovery of our loving Father and how we can experience a deeper relationship with him. Studying theology requires no advanced degree. However, humbly calling on a few guides who have given a lot of time to learning more about God is a good thing.

To use an imperfect analogy: by being a student of my wonderful wife, I have 1) grown to love her more; 2) understood more of who I am; and 3) marveled at how I should come to be blessed by her love. So should it be with God.

Don't worry; you can go back to watching Shark Week now.

Do you have a passion to accomplish
Something outstanding in your life
Then, take up one single project, after your heart
Make that project your whole life.
Think of it, feel for it and play with it.
Enjoy working on it relentlessly day and night.
Never, Never, Never give up at temporary set backs
Success is not just money or position in essence
It is total fulfillment of your innate potential
And turn out to be a Genius in the field of your choice.