My Ministry-related Prayers

I was cleaning the carpets last night. It is pretty monotonous work, so I had a lot of time to think. I began to think about the things that I would like to see happen in my ministry, be it youth group, children's ministry, or just the ministry in general. I understand that some of these things that I am praying for are pretty far out there, things that may never come to fruition. No harming in asking, right?

So, without any further jibber-jabber on my part, here are my ministry prayers.

• I am praying that my youth group would grow to at least 30 students by May 2013.
• I am praying that I would have the opportunity to lead at least 5 students to Christ by May 2013.
• I am praying that we would have a minimum of 30 children in Children's Church by May 2013.
• I am praying that there will be at least 200 people in the church service each week.
• I am praying that our weekly offerings will go over $10,000 in tithes and gifts.
• I am praying that we will have the volunteers to start a Wednesday evening children's program in September 2013.
• I am praying that more people in the church would develop a servant's heart and become involved in the ministry of the church.
• I am praying that the youth department will one day have its own facility. Not just a room or a basement, but its own building.
• I am praying that the opportunity for me to go on staff in a full-time capacity occurs in the very near future.
• I am praying that my students in the youth group will be sold out for Christ and will begin telling their friends about Jesus.

As you can tell, I have a lot of things that I am praying for and, actually, this doesn't even begin to scratch the surface. Youth ministry is a job that rises and falls on prayer. I just pray that I am doing enough.

The Ups and Downs of Being Bi-Vocational

I am a bi-vocational pastor. For those of you who may not understand that terminology, it essentially means I have two jobs. I have a full-time position as an elementary school teacher and a part-time position as a pastor at Charles Town Baptist Church.

There are positives and negatives to being bi-vocational. I would like to point out, however, that I am not complaining. I am very grateful to the opportunities that God has provided for me by letting me serve as a bi-vocational pastor.

Positives

• Being in ministry is hard work. Some may wonder why this is a positive, but, for me, it is. I need to have that constant pressure to make sure that I am performing. I am easily distracted, so the requirements of ministry are good for me to make sure I am getting things completed.
• Having a day job provides me some stability. Jon Acuff addresses this issue in his book Quitter. As a teacher, I have a stable paycheck and good health insurance that doesn't cost me as much as it would if I were to pay for it another way. This is really good because I have a houseful of children.
• Working as a teacher keeps me in touch with the lives of real students. As a youth pastor, I get to see my students on Wednesday nights and Sundays at church. Of course, being at church, they are on their best behavior (at least we hope). Being with students all day at school, I get to see them at their best and at their worst. It keeps me fresh in regards to the issues and joys and pains that students experience.

Negatives

• Being in ministry is hard work. The astute reader will notice that I am using this point twice. Being a pastor is very draining and requires a lot out of a person mentally. We are made aware of the ugly side of life on a regular basis.
• There is a large time commitment. I often find myself feeling guilty because I am not spending enough time doing on job or the other. There are so many things that I want to do as a youth pastor, but am unable to because of school commitments. I also find myself thinking about one job or other when I am with my family. I know it drives my wife crazy when I am with her, but not really with her.
• I can't give 100% to either jobNo matter how hard we try, it is impossible to give more than 100% effort to anything. If you divide that between two jobs and a growing family, there is a great deal of frustration because you can't do more than you already are.

My goal is to turn these negative aspects into positives. I spend a good deal of time in prayer, asking God to make being bi-vocational a thing of the past. I do know, however, that I will continue to do this until the end of the school year. With that knowledge, I am doing what I can to put things in place to make full-time vocational ministry a reality.

The Lord is going to do great things and I can't wait to be a part of them.

A Celebration - The Ten-Foot Ice Cream Sundae

I read somewhere that every youth pastor should keep a journal of how their activities went. I have yet to do it, but here is a recap of our activity from August 25, 2012. We built a Ten-Foot Ice Cream Sundae and the students had a blast.

We began the activity with some social time. After getting everyone settled, we watched two videos. The first was for a new series we will be doing in Awakening (our youth group service) called "Life in 6 Words." This series is a break down of the gospel and is designed to help students learn to share their faith. The second video was a promo for See You At The Pole. My prayer is that we will have a large number of students from our church participate and I am pushing it as much as I can.

After watching the videos, I spoke for a few minutes, using Acts 17:26 as my text. It is my desire for my students to see school as a mission field and I urged them to understand that, based on that verse, God chose this time and this place for them to live because of the awesome plan He has for them.

While we were watching and talking, the adult leaders were putting out the ice cream. I purchased a rain gutter from Home Depot and five gallons of ice cream from Wal-Mart. The leaders filled the gutter with the ice cream and the students then put toppings on the ice cream. Everyone then grabbed a spoon and dug in. Some students used chocolate syrup, sprinkles, and lots of cherries. One student brought bacon bits, but we gave him his own bowl.

Overall, I think the event was a success. We had about 20 students participate, including 11 of our students, 7 visitors (some unchurched, some from other churches), and 2 graduates saying goodbye to the student ministry program. I shared the gospel and will continue to pray that hearts are changed. I am looking forward to doing this event again in the future.

Here is a picture of the aftermath of the ice cream when all of the students were finished eating.

I Can't Even Begin to Tell You How Exciting Last Night Was

Our church has Bible study on Wednesday evenings. At the present time, we have Bible study for adults and for our teenagers. There are plans to branch that out, but those things take prayer and time.

For the first two months that I have been on staff, our youth group has averaged about four people each Wednesday night. I am extremely thankful for those students and their faithfulness. Tonight, however, was different.

I have been teaching off and on, but I will be taking over the teaching full-time at this point. With that in mind, I began to make a concerted effort to invite the students out. I fired off text messages and Facebook comments, inviting all the students I have on Facebook. I was hoping for about 8-10.

Imagine my surprise when THIRTEEN students came in! It was incredible! We did some announcements, played a game called "Mystery Meat", and voted on a name for our Wednesday evening service. Our time together is now called, "Awakening!" After those activities were finished, we studied Colossians 5:1-17, looking at how we are free from the slavery of the law and how we should be sharing the good news of our freedom from sin.

Last night was a win for God's Kingdom. It was an answer to prayer. My heart is bursting with excitement. Our God is good!

Reflections on Spirit Night at Chick-Fil-A

This past week, our youth ministry partnered with the local Chick-Fil-A to host a Spirit Night. For those of you unfamiliar with Spirit Night, the concept is that Chick-Fil-A will allow your group to come into the restaurant for dinner. For every patron who purchases food and tells the cashier that they are with your group, your group will receive 15% of their bill. The more promoting that your group does in conjunction with the event, the more people who will attend and the more money your group will raise. It is also a benefit to Chick-Fil-A because the increase in business results in an increase in revenue.

We promoted the Spirit Night like crazy. Some kids from the youth group and I made a promotional video that we showed in church. It was a big success and we are still getting compliments on it. We posted reminders on our church's Facebook page and put a flyer in the church bulletin.

The night of the event, the restaurant was full. It was a wonderful to visit with families and to enjoy a meal together. There was a lot of laughter, smiles, and hugs. I am proud to say that the good people of Charles Town Baptist Church came out to support the youth ministry in a huge way. I was so happy to see so many of my friends there and it was obvious that they were enjoying themselves.

While I don't know the exact amount that our youth ministry was able to raise just yet, I am confident that it was a substantial amount and will go a long way to help cover the costs of the events we have planned in the coming months. I also received many positive comments from members of the church and I am confident that another Spirit Night in the future will be an even greater success.

If you haven't seen (and didn't follow the link above!), here is the video we made.

Guest Post: A labor of love: Parents develop Sunday school class for autistic son

I am "borrowing" this guest post from Benjer McVeigh. The topic is near to my heart because my church, Charles Town Baptist Church has developed something similar as a means of ministering to both students with special needs and to their parents.

If you would like more information about this ministry, please contact the church office at 304-725-5917.

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This is a very important topic to make sure we have a handle on. I remember once my wife, Jennifer was a seminar leader for a day-long children's ministry training for our denomination. Her's was the last seminar of the day, and it was the only one she was teaching. A group of people from a church were collecting their things before the seminar was to begin, and she asked if they were leaving. Not realizing she was the one leading the last seminar, they told her, "Well, we don't have any special needs kids at our church, so this seminar doesn't apply to us."

I realize that not every church can perfectly meet every need of every person. However, I imagine that there's a reason that their church did not have any special needs kids; for parents of special needs kids who are looking for a church who will help them spiritually care for their children, it's very clear when a church does not have any interest in accommodating children or teenagers with special needs.

No matter what our church's size, budget, or resources are, there are things we can do to love those with special needs. Because many developmental disabilities cause a child or teenager to behave socially outside the spectrum of what we normally experience in our Sunday schools, small groups, or youth group meetings, children and teenagers with special needs are unfortunately treated--intentionally or unintentionally--as outcasts in some sense. Again, we can't meet every single need or spend the resources to hire a person devoted entirely to ministering to people with special needs. But there's always something we can do to partner with parents who have kids with special needs.

The article:

For the moment, there is only one Sunday school pupil in Room 120 at State Street Baptist Church, in Columbia, S.C., a 19-year-old young man who loves puzzles and songs and has painstakingly memorized the books of the Bible.

John Stack's autism and halted mental development set him apart. But his parents, Tim and Ann Stack, don't believe that should limit their son's access to Sunday school and the spiritual lessons that have been so important to him through his life.

The Stacks have developed a class for teenagers and young adults like John, people with special needs who require routine and repetition but who have "aged out" of traditional Sunday school classes.

They hope that soon John will have other classmates join him in Bible study.

"We had been thinking about this for several years," Ann Stack said. "He really towered over the other children, because they were third- and fourth-graders. Mentally he fit, but physically he didn't."

John Stack always had enjoyed Sunday school and church. For years, a church volunteer, Kathy Collins, served as his "shadow," attending classes with him and helping him follow the Bible lessons and craft instructions.

But the Stacks knew that John no longer belonged at the little tables.

"We just felt that it was time for him to move on and there wasn't another place for him to go," his mother, a retired school teacher, said. "We wanted him to continue to grow spiritually and in the church, and we just didn't see that that would happen there."

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Benjer McVeigh is the youth pastor that currently serves as the pastor to students in grades 9-12 and their families at Washington Heights Church in Ogden, Utah. His blog can be found at www.benjermcveigh.com

Why I Will Be the Associate Pastor at Charles Town Baptist Church

For those of you who may not have heard, I was recently hired as the Associate Pastor for Children and Youth at Charles Town Baptist Church. My family and I are extremely excited about this opportunity and look forward to all that God is going to do through our new church family. I wanted to take a few minutes and lay out why I am so excited about this new position.

1. It is obvious that God is in this decision. While I don't have enough time or space to lay out all of the details, it was clear from the beginning of the interviewing and hiring process that God was in the decision. The fact that the church is located in my neighborhood comes to mind. We will not have to relocate our family or get acclimated to a new area before we begin ministering. God worked out so many details, little things that played a huge role in the overall decision.
2. The church has already made us part of the family. We have been well-received, even before the final vote was taken. My wife and I have received many encouraging messages and friend requests from people on Facebook. The process of coming on staff was long and, at times, stressful, but everyone was so excited and their love for us was apparent. When the final vote was announced during the service, there was a roar of approval and many, many hugs were exchanged.
3. Pastor Brian is excited about mentoring me. One of the things that my pastor made clear was that he was going to mentor me, especially in how to "maintain" in ministry. He wants me to be a part of the team for a long time and is going to meet with me regularly to make sure that I am taking care of myself and my family in order to stay in ministry for as long as the Lord will have me there.
4. The ministry opportunities are wide open. Charles Town Baptist Church has a strategic plan and a group of individuals that we are working to reach. As a result, we are working to build excellence in those areas, particularly in youth and children's programs. I have the opportunity to work with some great individuals and put in place some programs and plans to reach our community and to impact the surrounding areas as a result.
5. The ministry I will have here will impact the rest of the world. I know that sounds a bit grandiose, but there are a large number of individuals in our community who commute from West Virginia to Washington, D.C. The influence that our ministry has on them will then be carried with them to work in D.C., where they will influence others. One of the great (and not-so-great) things about our area is the transient nature of the people. Many people are here for a short period of time before moving on. Those we minister to in Charles Town will minister to those in Washington D.C. who will then minister to other around the country and the globe.

These are just a few of the many reasons why I am excited to serve at Charles Town Baptist Church. I couldn't be happier to be right where God has placed me.