Week #6 – October 8, 2009

Wow, this past week was lecture heavy.  It needed to be done.  We covered the goal of youth ministry (to call teens to treasure Christ) as well as how the gospel works to do that. So our goal is to point teens to the reality that Jesus is better than anything that life can give to them or death can take from them, and their lives are found as they embrace the gospel (death. burial, and resurrection).

We also pointed out that there are inferior ways to try to change a teens behavior – using pride and fear (common virtue).  Only seeing and savoring Jesus will lead to true virtue (as jonathan Edwards defined it).

Here is the audio:

• Hour one
• Hour two
• Hour three

Here are my notes: Treasuring Christ and Gospel means and true virtue.

This week we will dialogue a lot – about how to apply this truth.

• What does this mean to our teaching?
• What does this mean when counseling a teen?
• Are we really instruments of change, and if so – how do we help them change?
• What sould I teach? How do I teach?
• How does community fit in with this? Does a kid need the church?

Five Books Every Youth Minister Should Read

The Resurgence featured an article entitled “5 Books Every Youth Minister Should read”. 

The books on this list are not about youth ministry but for youth ministers so you will be better equipped to serve by knowing the culture and lives of youth well and knowing the Gospel and its power to heal even better.

Be sure to check it out!

What books would you recommend? Add a comment with the 5 books you think every youth minister should read.

Week #5 – October 1st

Hey, great class last week, you guys! What a time of deep discussion and encouragement. There was a lot of co-laboring, working on the characteristics of a fully devoted follower of Christ, a review of what you learned in the Youth Ministry 3.0 book, and interaction on religion, irreligion and the gospel from The Prodigal God by Tim Keller (check out http://www.theprodigalgod.com/ for more info).

Here is the audio from the night:

• First hour
• Second hour
• Third hour

Here are the handouts (some of these will be really useful for upcoming assignments, others are just useful)

• One method to keep quotes and concepts from all the books you read.
• Example of a Description of a Discipled Person (assignment due next week).
• Extra credit – a prayer to memorize.
• Excellent article by Tim Keller, The Centrality of the Gospel.
• Helpful reading – Leadership is Lonely (Part1) and Leadership is Lonely (Part2) by Mark Driscoll.
• Another helpful chart – Religion vs Gospel by Tim Keller.

First Importance

 Found this post on the blog for youth ministries at The Village Church in Texas.  It fits what we’ve been talking about – give it a quick read:

I teach a Foundations class each week to a small group of High School students for a discipleship program we call Basic Training. It is one of the most exciting times of my week. I really love the interaction that we have as well as getting to know students and where they are with the LORD. For the past two weeks our discussion has ended up centering upon the gospel message of Christ. Not to my surprise, most of these students do not have a good grasp on what the gospel message is. Let me add at this point that most of these students are not new to the faith and most would even be considered leaders in our ministry. Unfortunately, this group is not an anomaly. I had a group of about 20 student leaders last year that I asked to dictate to me on paper what the gospel was. About three of these High School leadership students could do so accurately. I was shocked to say the least. After all, these students were all known on their campuses for knowing and loving Jesus. Not only that but they were all very involved in a church that teaches gospel-saturated messages on a weekly basis. How could this be? How could we have produced such disciples that have missed out on the most central teaching?

Perhaps the problem is that we have moved past the gospel to seemingly more important matters…

Click here to read the rest: First Importance.

Updated: Keller did a great job (duh!) on this article for Leadership Journal called, “The Gospel in All Its Forms”. If you want to clarify what the gospel is, this will help.

Week #4 – September 24

You took a break this week – I was in Senegal – so I am sure that you packed some serious time into your first paper.  Can’t wait to hear what you found out from teens and parents and ministry leaders about their expectations for a successful youth ministry.

Week #3 – September 17th

Larry Lakey of Winslow Baptist Church, a long time veteran of New England youth ministry, led the class through an examination of youth ministry 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0.

He said he really enjoyed the class and feels like he may have learned more than you did.  You looked at Oestreicher’s book, Youth Ministry 3.0

You asked three questions:

1. What did you agree with?
2. What did you disagree with?
3. Where will you go from here?  How will you use it?

I wish I had the opportunity to be in on this discussion, Larry said he really enjoyed it.  We’ll talk more tonight.

Week #2 – September 10th

Alright, picking up where we left off last time, we are building a biblical theology of youth ministry.  If sin is the ultimate disease, then what do we do with it?  There are three ways of handling sin.

Here are the handouts and here are my notes.

Here’s a copy of the audio – I know it stinks, but it will do if you need a refresher or if you miss class.

• Hour one
• Hour two
• Hour three

Here’s the “Stop it” video, ’cause I know you will want to use it.

Week #1 – September 3rd

Welcome to week#1.

We over-viewed the syllabus, getting into detail re. the key assignments.  Then we talked about the need to develop a Biblical theology of youth ministry.

Here are the handouts, and here are my notes.

Welcome to PE202

If you are here, you are probably in my class at New England Bible College – PE202, Intro to Youth Ministry.  On this site I will upload resources that you will want access to – notes for tests and audio from the class (as I have time).  The onus is on you (yuck, isn’t that gross? who wants that on them.)

Check the resources page – there you will find a copy of the syllabus and other resources.