by David Hanson | Sep 16, 2014 | The Youth Ministry Blog
Developmentally, teenagers have a hard time seeing the “big picture.” Rather than seeing the culmination of various circumstances that led to a bad day, they think their world is ending and the sky is falling.
As Youth Pastors, we must speak truth into these circumstances. We must preach a Gospel that does not promise freedom from these hard times, but rather a message of hope in Christ that supersedes any bad day or circumstance.
My students are going through Mark 4:35-41 this week. This is the story of Jesus calming the storm after being woken from sleeping on a cushion. The verse in this passage that gets the most attention is verse 41 where the disciples proclaim, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Much is then made, and rightfully so, about the sovereignty of Jesus over the created order. While this does make Jesus look awesome and an awful lot like Captain Planet, we can’t miss the fact that the disciples were also acting an awful lot like the teenagers in our ministries!
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Sure, these were experienced fishermen who had probably faced a storm or two, but Jesus was sleeping, how bad could it have been?!
This is exactly what I do with students. I hear about the different circumstances and situations they are facing and think, “how bad could that really be?” To state the obvious…I’m low on compassion.
But on the other side of the coin, Jesus is with them! Rather than telling students “it’s going to be okay,” or “you’ll get through this,” we need to remind them, “Jesus is with you!” Yes, it might feel like He’s asleep right now, but He’s with you. Yes it feels like the world is ending but you have a relationship with the ONE who will cease time and usher in eternity!
Is this easy to teach or easy to understand? Absolutely not! But we have Paul to show us the way:
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him…” -Philippians 3:8-9
“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” -Philippians 4:11-13
May we preach a Jesus who is with us through “all things” including the storm. Jesus never said it would be easy. He never offered a golden ticket that would free us from suffering, but He did promise to be with us:
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, who the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” -John 4:16-17
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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 | Sep 10, 2014 | The Youth Ministry Blog
The staff at my church is currently going through a semester long training program led by our teaching pastor. At a recent training, he showed us this sermon by Dave Allgire at Late Church. It is a MUST WATCH if you want a succinct overview of the entire Bible narrative.
Spoiler Alert: There are hand motions to help you remember all of church history!
A few weeks ago, I showed the hand motion portion of this video to students going through one of our discipleship programs. It was a hit! Students expressed how awesome it was to see the entire Bible laid out before them. They were baffled at how busy God was during the “silent years” before Jesus.
This is Youth Ministry GOLD, and I highly recommend:
- Showing this to students
- Recreating it on a Wednesday night or Sunday morning
When students better understand the overview of the whole bible, Jesus wins!
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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 | Sep 9, 2014 | The Youth Ministry Blog
Is your youth ministry a group of six or seven grades each filled with cliques, or, is your youth ministry a family? As Youth Pastors, we must be intentional in fostering community and a group identity. We must take students from various grades, schools, backgrounds, and talents, and show them how they are part of our youth ministry family.
As a child and student at First Baptist Church of Amarillo, I still vividly remember Sunday’s where someone would join the church. After coming forward during a response time, the pastor would introduce the individual or family joining the church and everyone in the congregation would collectively say, “Welcome to the family!”
I loved this! I still love this idea! In a world where students face adversity and exclusion almost daily, their youth ministry should be a place of inclusion and acceptance. Their youth ministry should be a loving family.
Here are 4 ways to make a youth ministry a family:
1. Preach it early and often from the stage.
Students need to hear this concept from you! It WILL NOT happen naturally. They need to hear that everyone is invited, everyone is accepted, and that NO ONE is excluded from gospel community.
2. Get upperclassmen to mentor underclassmen.
We do this in two ways:
- Upperclassmen lead guys & girls groups
- One-on-one mentoring (by selected students only)
3. Occasionally integrate older and younger Small Groups.
If you do Small Groups on Wednesday or Sunday nights, think about occasionally mixing a couple of the grades. (Seniors with 8th graders, Juniors with 7th graders, Sophomores with 6th graders)
4. Get upperclassmen to serve the ministry at large.
Encourage your upperclassmen to come to church with the intent of building relationships and “looking for loners.” When upperclassmen lead the way on inclusion and intentionally find ways to bring the outsiders in, the ministry becomes a family.
How are you making your youth ministry feel like a family? Comment below!
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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 | Sep 7, 2014 | The Youth Ministry Blog
This past weekend, we had our annual Launch Conference where we exhort students to live on mission in their schools, among friends, and in their families. It went AMAZING!
We are in the third year of the Launch Conference and have seen some amazing initiatives birth out of teaching students how to live on mission for Christ everyday.
It is imperative that students renew the way they view school. If you are anything like I was in jr. high & high school, then you viewed school as a burden, as something that had to be endured. But I’m certain this is not what Christ intended. The Great Commission calls us all to live on mission as we “Go therefore,” or “As we are going.”
This is why my staff and I are bent on helping students understand how to live on mission each day in their schools. We want to see students so amped up about Jesus that they take what was ordinary and mundane and make it a matter of eternity. We want to see students embrace daily ministry, so that they become adults who carry this daily mission into the workplace.
In a world where teenagers seem to be apathetic about everything, we want to see students living on purpose! And they are!
- We have one student feeding fellow students who have no meals on the weekends. She has never met the people she feeds, but continues to provide meal packs!
- We have students hosting Bible Studies IN THEIR SCHOOLS on a weekly basis! (We did a breakout session at Launch and had even more students step up to begin these!)
- We have students initiating prayer times before their respective sports or activities.
How are you helping students live on mission? How have you seen students stand up and embrace our collective mission to make disciples? Comment below!
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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 | Aug 19, 2014 | The Youth Ministry Blog
Whew! I don’t know about you, but Summer 2014 has been a whirlwind of youth ministry activity! Camps, mission trips, lunches, hang outs, discipleship, multi-site, etc. It has been nuts, and I am stoked to get back into a routine…if that exists in youth ministry! I am also excited to get back to blogging. It is downright impossible, at least for me, to prioritize blogging during youth ministry summers. Something’s got to give and it sure isn’t going to be my family time or ministry time! I’m only human people! But here is what I’ve been up to…I’m sure you can relate!
1. Preacher Man – I began the summer by preaching at a camp for FBC Amarillo. I had a blast getting to exhort students at “Breakaway” at Camp Table Rock in Missouri (beautiful place!). If there was ever a student ministry that I was prepared to speak to, it was this one. This was my home church for 18 years, so it was an honor to join them and Bradley Maybin who has faithfully pastored the student ministry at FBC for 10+ years! (Side note: Go check out The Gladsome Light if you are looking for a band. They are fantastic!
2. Camp Time – A week after I returned from preaching at a summer camp, I took my students to summer camp. We have attended LifeWay’s Fuge Camp for the past three years in Glorieta, NM. This year was the best yet! The folks who run Camp Eagle bought the camp grounds in Glorieta from the SBC, and have really invested in taking the camp grounds to the next level. (Side Note: Go to camp with your youth pastor friends and their student ministries. It makes camp THAT much more fun! I went again this year with Brandon Weir, The Fellowship Round Rock, and Kyle Ogle, Champion Fellowship.)
3. Haiti – Our student ministry sent two teams to Haiti this summer to visit an orphan village that our church, LifePoint Church, supports. It was extra special because these are OUR kids. In partnership with The Global Orphan Project, our church has “adopted” a church and orphanage in Haiti, so it was special to see 1) our tithe money at work, and 2) orphans I’ve prayed for before ever stepping foot in Haiti.
4. Discipleship & Fun – The summer has also been filled with a weekly discipleship program we have titled “Infused.” We brand it as as seminary for teenagers and are relentless in our attempts to take students deep. We spent an hour and fifteen minutes in teaching and discussion, and students kept coming back! We know that investing in the maturity of our students will pay out greatly in the long run. And sure, we played a little 4-Square Volleyball and Spikeball afterward, it wasn’t ALL business.
It was a GREAT summer! And now I look forward to the start of our weekly Small Groups and our back to school conference we put on every year entitled “Launch,” where we amp students up about living out their faith on the mission field they know as school. (You will see more posts about this in the near future.) Until then, you can go check out my Instagram if you want the play-by-play of my summer, @davidhanson1.
I pray that your summer has been full of His presence and the expansion of the kingdom!
David
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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 | Jun 24, 2014 | The Youth Ministry Blog
On Mondays throughout the summer, we have P.I.E. (People Interested in Eating). Yesterday we went to Canes and I had the chance to dine with a group of soon-to-be Freshmen. During our conversations I learned about two things, one serious, one dumb.
1. Parents are tracking students.
I have no clue how we arrived on the topic, but I had a 10-minute conversation with two girls about how their parents track their every move. What was most shocking was the fact that neither were upset with this situation. They both expressed comfort in the fact that someone was looking out for them.
Ways to track students:
Life360 App
Find My Friends App
What are your thoughts on parents tracking students? Is this a way for helicopter parents to thrive?
2. Crack Kid Vine Compilations
I was speechless after watching a few of these…take your pick! But then get back to work.
It’s amazing the things you learn when sharing a meal with teenagers! Try it…weekly…and ask lots of questions!
[guestpost]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.[/guestpost]
