by David Hanson | Dec 10, 2014 | On the Job, The Youth Ministry Blog
On Tuesday, our staff celebrated Christmas. We did so by having lunch and then taking a tour of AT&T Stadium, aka. Jerry World or Cowboy Stadium. It was a blast touring this BILLION dollar building, but even more fun living out my dreams of greatness on the field!
After the tour, 8 of us spent around 45 minutes playing four-on-four and running fade routes to the endzone. It was so surreal. We also discovered how difficult it is to hit a 20-yard field goal!
The whole time we were on the field, I kept thinking, “what is it like to have 80,000 people watching, cheering, jeering, and criticizing your every move? What kind of pressure do these players face in their attempts to get an oblong ball across a line?”
After pretending to throw and catch touchdowns, I drove 30 minutes back to my office in Plano for a time of discipleship with two students.
We spent 45 minutes talking about our identity in Christ, and I listened to them talk about how they are slowly but surely finding themselves in Him rather than in the things of the world. It was a rich 45 minutes.
As I was packing my bag to head home, I couldn’t help but parallel my 45 minutes on the field with my 45 minutes with students. My mind wondered, “what is is like to have friends, parents, siblings, teachers, pastors, and random people at school watch, cheer, jeer, and criticize your every move? What kind of pressure do students face in their attempts get through jr. high and high school?”
Getting through jr. high and high school and keeping Christ preeminent…now that’s greatness!
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David Hanson: Texas native, Texas Tech Red Raider, M.Div. at Truett Seminary, husband to Ashley, father to Ava & Ben, Student Pastor at LifePoint Church in Plano, Tx, table tennis (ping-pong) extraordinaire, addicted to coffee. For anything else…you’ll just have to ask.
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by David Hanson | Dec 3, 2014 | On the Job, The Youth Ministry Blog
While deployed as an Army Chaplain on Operation Enduring Freedom in Europe, God taught me some lessons about time management. While my unit was not in a combat area, the deployment made me think about the brevity of my life and how I had spent my time up until that point.
I grieved over time I wasted and committed that I would seek to try to make the most of each day, seeing each day as a stewardship God gave me with which to make Kingdom investments. I vowed that I would not waste my time.
Scripture communicates the importance of managing our time well due to the brevity of our lives and the limited number of our days. The Psalmist writes:
The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?
So teach us to number our days
That we may get a heart of wisdom. (Emphasis added) Psalm 90:10-12 ESV
As youth pastors, it is important that we apply this truth regarding making the most of each moment and each day to our ministries. We must manage and use our time well to minister effectively to our students, youth volunteers, and parents. Allow me to share eight steps to managing our time well in youth ministry.
- Pray that God will grant you wisdom regarding how you should spend your time. The Bible says that we should seek the Lord through prayer if we would like to gain wisdom about a particular matter (James 1:5). We youth pastors should pray that God would help us in goal setting, task planning, and scheduling our calendars. We should go to the Lord first on this matter, before we turn to any other source or person for counsel.
- Set goals for your youth ministry. After you have prayed regarding how God would have you spend your time, set goals accordingly. Failure to set goals leads to bad time management, lack of direction, and wasting our time. Again, in the book of James, the Bible encourages us to set goals according to the will of God (James 4:15).
- Backwards plan to accomplish your goals. Plan backwards from the time you want to have the goal accomplished. Set various tasks that need to be finished with specific due dates to make positive progress towards the goal. Check off each task as you accomplish it. Backwards planning helps prevent procrastination and inefficient use of our time.
- Keep yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily calendars and follow them. Take your leadership on an annual planning retreat to plan the yearly calendar. Put as much detail on the calendar as possible. Once you have your calendar for the year, plan three months in advance, filling in the details for each item on the calendar for those months. As you begin the week, fill in the daily tasks you need to accomplish. Plan your daily calendars to accomplish those tasks.
- Prioritize your tasks and time, avoiding “the tyranny of the urgent” as much as possible. In his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey divides our tasks into four quadrants: urgent/important, not urgent/important, urgent/not important, and not urgent/not important. He contends that we should prioritize based upon the importance of the task, seeking to operate in the not urgent/important quadrant. By doing so, we can prevent some important tasks from becoming urgent due to lack of attention. In addition, we can avoid focusing on tasks that appear to be urgent, but are not important.
- Set aside a particular time of the day to check and reply to email, voicemail, and social media contacts. If you do not designate a particularly time to respond to emails, voicemails, and contacts on social media, they will distract you from accomplishing goals and tasks for that day. You will waste time trying to refocus on the task after answering that Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram message, or email. Designate a time to respond to such correspondence so that you can keep your focus and accomplish more with your time.
- Create your weekly schedule and post it or share it with your administrative assistant (if you are fortunate to have one). Include in your schedule times you are in the office, times you are out visiting, when you eat lunch, etc. For the times you are in the office, schedule blocks for walk ins, appointments, and personal study time. I use a red, yellow, and green color code. Green is walk in time; anyone can come talk with me during these times. Yellow is my by appointment only time; folks call ahead to meet with me during those times. Red is my study time; unless it is an emergency, I am not to be disturbed during those times. Although you post your schedule, understand that ministry involves flexibility. Sometimes real emergencies arrive that you need to address, regardless of what color is on your office schedule during that particular time.
- Disciple your leadership and delegate responsibility. One failure that youth pastors make is neglecting to disciple their adult volunteers and student leaders. Discipling them becomes a ministry multiplier for you and allows you to make more efficient use of your time. Delegate responsibility to your leaders; however, make sure you demonstrate to them what they need to do before you delegate to them the task.
Implementing these eight steps will help you manage time in your youth ministry efficiently. This efficient use of time fulfills the Psalmist’s charge to “number our days.” May we do so to the glory of God and the advancement of His Kingdom.
Soli Deo Gloria
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Tim McKnight is Assistant Professor of Christian Studies at Anderson University in Anderson, South Carolina. He has over 21 years of experience in ministry, serving churches in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina. He served in youth ministry for 12 years and in the pastorate for 9 years. In addition, Dr. McKnight served as an infantry chaplain in the U.S. Army, deploying on Operations Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom in 2001. He holds a BS in Criminal Justice from Bluefield College, and a M.Div. and PhD from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He blogs at drtimmcknight.com
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by David Hanson | Dec 2, 2014 | On the Job, The Youth Ministry Blog
I checked my box this afternoon and found a letter in it from around thanksgiving. The contents absolutely made my day. A student wrote me a letter detailing why he was thankful for me. This student has slight autism and struggles to “fit in,” but is one of the most honest and loving students.
As you read, remember why we do what we do. It’s totally worth it!
Dear David,
You are the best pastor at LifePoint Church. Well, you’re definitely up there, at least. You bring a smile to my face every Sunday. Here are some reasons why you rock.
First off, you make church fun. And that’s not an easy task. Yet somehow, you pull it off. So thank you for that.
Secondly, you get me involved even if I don’t want to. While this may also be my brothers doing, you always pull me into the fray. Because of that, I’m considered cool by all of my brothers friends. All in all, thanks for being the best pastor out there.
Sincerely,
One of my students.
Gospel + Community = Kingdom.
Have a great day!
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David Hanson: Texas native, Texas Tech Red Raider, M.Div. at Truett Seminary, husband to Ashley, father to Ava & Ben, Student Pastor at LifePoint Church in Plano, Tx, table tennis (ping-pong) extraordinaire, addicted to coffee. For anything else…you’ll just have to ask.
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by David Hanson | Nov 27, 2014 | The Youth Ministry Blog
Every year on Thanksgiving, it’s wise to stop and remember who you are thankful for.
This year, I am thinking about the countless hours my Small Group Leaders spend pouring into the students in our ministry.
Their love, devotion, and transparency is setting our students up for a lifetime of faith.
For two hours each week on Wednesdays nights and though countless meetings, conversations, phone calls and text messages throughout the week, they pour themselves out hoping to see students develop a faith where Christ is held preeminent!
We owe them so much more than a simple thank you…
But thank you.
If you are a youth pastor, take today to do two things:
1. Thank God for the people he has entrusted you, as you together lead students.
2. Thank your volunteer leaders. Send them a quick email or text today, thanking them for their contribution to the kingdom.
Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to you! Thank you for reading the blog and caring about the next generation. Know that God is using you! Your efforts are not wasted and they have not gone unnoticed!
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” – Philippians 1:6
by David Hanson | Nov 23, 2014 | The Youth Ministry Blog
There is a strange phenomenon going on right now within Christendom. Those who have beautiful and creative ways to expand the kingdom are doing so outside the context of the local church.
The American Church has been operating within a very small frame. And the way that you frame a story matters. The bigger the frame, the bigger the impact, so why has the church narrowed its scope and frame?
Not only have we narrowed the audience we are hoping to captivate, but we have narrowed the ways we seek to expand the kingdom.
Is the church where people think small? Is the church where good ideas go to die? Why is the church not more entrepreneurial?
This could be the very reason the church stateside is dwindling…
We may have set the church above the kingdom. And Jesus didn’t say “seek yes first the church,” he said, “seek he first the KINGDOM.” Have young people left the church not because of disbelief, but because of the church itself!
Young people long to be a part of something bigger than themselves. They want to make an impact, they want to initiate change! So why is the church standing in the way?!
Youth Pastors, there is no greater place to begin the process of transformation than in the youth ministry. How can you expand the frame? How can you, WITH your students, think bigger?
by David Hanson | Nov 22, 2014 | The Youth Ministry Blog
It is difficult to continually say “yes” to the commitments in our lives. We are constantly having to decide what, and who, we say YES to.
Time talks…it can shout the truth where words lie.” – Dorothy Bass
We say YES so much that we end up saying NO to the people we care about most.
Are we sacrificing our families on the alter of ministry?
We are not the only ones wrestling with this. The families in our ministries have a hard time prioritizing as well. Parents are saying YES without realizing the NO’s.
We should decide our yes’s and our no’s based on our theology, not our schedules. If not, our busyness makes us practical atheists.
“Exhaustion has become the new status symbol” -Brene Brown
This lays in stark contrast to Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.”
So what truths are we speaking over ourselves and over our students in light of this? Is our job to to try harder to glorify God, our are we and the students we lead, called to REST in what God has already accomplished?
Here are two steps to help your decision making process as you rest in Him:
1. If it’s not a definite yes, it’s a no.
2. Chose your few great “yes” priorities.
Pick 4 and do those four well!
For more great information from Kara, check out www.stickyfaith.org
