God Used My Daughter to Save Me From Drug Addiction

Brian ‘Head’ Welch: God Used My Daughter to Save Me From Drug Addiction

Brian “Head” Welch is best known to the world as guitarist and co-founder of the heavy metal band, Korn. However, after a crippling battle with meth addiction, Welch has since become a Christian. In a video interview with I Am Second, Welch retells the harrowing experience of how he came to faith and how God used his daughter, Jennea, to help save him.
Welch describes two positive feelings he experienced before he came to Christ: the high of performing in front of thousands of people who loved his music and the “euphoric feeling” he had when his daughter was born.
When he was performing for Korn and seeing all those people respond to the music, he says it puffs you up inside and makes you feel like “I’m important.” He describes the experience as people worshipping him. It’s apparent the birth of his daughter had a huge impact on him, but even this experience in and of itself didn’t have the power to change him. “I just felt so much love just fill my emotions and I thought I was going to be happy, but I couldn’t stay sober. I just didn’t know how,” Welch recalls.
Welch explains he never wanted to dabble with meth in the first place, after witnessing how it stole his ex-wife’s life. He says he despised his ex wife and the mother of his child for choosing drugs over her kid, but then eventually ended up stumbling down the same path she did.
One day his real estate broker told Welch, “I felt this Scripture jump out at me. I’ve never done this before…but I felt like this would mean something to you.” The Scripture his real estate broker got was Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” For some reason, this word from his broker prompted Welch to accept an invitation to go to church.
Welch recalls accepting Jesus at the church service, yet going home to do drugs. This time, though, when he looked at his daughter, he knew something was different. He remembers the prayer he prayed to Jesus that day: “You know I want to quit. You know I want to be a good Dad for this kid. She lost her mother to drugs and she’s going to lose me if I don’t quit.” He asked Jesus to take the drugs away from him.
After praying, Welch says “I felt so much fatherly love from heaven, and it was like ‘I don’t condemn you. I love you. I love you.’”
“Instantly, that love from God came into me. It was so powerful that the next day I threw away all my drugs and I quit Korn,” Welch recalls. He experienced the love of God coming into him and then out to his daughter. All of a sudden, he had the desire to raise her properly. Later, Welch would come to realize “God used her to save me to save her later on.”
Besides the overwhelming love of God the Father Welch so candidly expresses, he also has shares a significant revelation about fulfillment. His explains that through becoming famous with Korn, his dreams came true more than he could ever imagine—money, houses, cars, sex, drugs, anything he wanted to try to find pleasure. But when Christ came in, Welch says he was given the gift of understanding life, which he now understands as, “everything was created for Christ, and by him, and we’re created to be with him. And it’s the most incredible feeling because you’re where you belong.”

Welch says, “The question about life is answered.”

The Secret to Getting Nonbelievers to Check Out Your Church

By Phil Cooke • October 18, 2016

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“It’s not about compromising your doctrine—it’s about the church being at the heart of transforming your community.”

LifeWay Research recently polled thousands of nonbelievers about what it would take to get them inside a church. When I thought about it, the results made perfect sense, but most church leaders never consider these possibilities.
Focused on Americans who do not attend church, here’s what they said would draw them into one:
62 percent – a meeting about neighborhood safety
51 percent – a community service event
46 percent – a sports or exercise program
45 percent – a concert
45 percent – a neighborhood get together
35 percent – a worship service
Notice that only 35 percent of nonbelievers responded with a worship service. Pastor Tony Miller at The Gate Church in Oklahoma City was already thinking this way. Because of his personal passion for unity, and as a result of the recent racial issues in cities across the country, Tony held a “Forum for Transformative Cultural Reform” at his church. He invited local politicians, the police chief, the superintendent of schools, an imam from a local mosque, a Jewish rabbi, the president of the local NAACP, the executive director of Black Lives Matter, the vice present in charge of diversity at the university, a local court judge and others.
The event drew more than 700 people—many who had never visited a church before. It was a remarkable event that positioned The Gate Church in the center of the effort to bring unity in the city. Afterward, he received an email that said: “Thank you for hosting last night’s forum. It was an incredible start to the healing and transformation of our city.”
Another attendee remarked about pastor Tony: “I’m going to have to bring my wife over hear to hear this man. I really like him. He’s got an incredible perspective and heart. He’s one of the few people I deal with that ‘gets it.’”
Another said: “I’m coming back one Sunday.”
Tony reported to me that the state senator wanted to follow up with him, and he had already scheduled a lunch meeting with the local imam.
The event accomplished multiple results:
• It helped move forward the conversation about racial unity in the city.
• It brought people together who might never have met otherwise.
• It exposed more than 700 local citizens to an important mission of the church.
• It created a comfortable “first” experience for hundreds of people who have never walked in the door of a church.
Perhaps an important way to grow your church is to become a platform in the community for issues that matter to those who would never otherwise visit. It’s not about compromising your doctrine—it’s about the church being at the heart of transforming your community.
I’d love to hear about the results of similar events at churches across the country. Any reports?
Phil Cooke is an internationally known writer and speaker. Through his company Cooke Pictures in Burbank, California, he’s helped some of the largest nonprofit organizations and leaders in the world use media to tell their story. This article was originally published on Cooke’s blog at PhilCooke.com.

Authentic Gospel: Sandals Church

By Nadra Kareem Nittle • September 16, 2016

No. 45 Fastest-Growing: The Leaders and Members at Sandals Church in California Share the Gospel With Authenticity

When Matt Brown was growing up, church was the one place where he felt like he couldn’t be authentic.
“There was a difference between whom I portrayed in church on Sundays, and who I really was and what was really going on,” he says.
Now, as founding and lead pastor of Sandals Church in Riverside, California, Brown has made authenticity a priority. He not only shares his personal shortcomings and triumphs but encourages his congregation to do so, as well.
“They have to be real with themselves and other people,” Brown says. “It needs to be a place where they can be who they really are. And that’s ultimately what God wants.”
Brown says that challenging churchgoers to be authentic has drawn people to Sandals. This includes a couple he befriended whose marriage was falling apart. They were ready to divorce but visited Sandals and became Christians.
“Their whole life is changed,” Brown says, “because of this … idea of forgiveness and grace, and they were able to receive that from God and ultimately give it to each other.”
The authentic feel of Sandals also appealed to Dan Zimbardi, who began attending the church 12 years ago by pure happenstance. He and his wife were always late to another church service and decided to give Sandals a try because it started later, and they knew they could make it on time. He’d heard “wild people” with tattoos attended the church and didn’t know what to expect.
“Within the first few minutes, it felt like I’d found the church for me,” Zimbardi says. “I was so drawn in by this vision of authenticity we were really desperate for in our lives and in our marriage.”
Zimbardi worked in the corporate world and began routinely volunteering at Sandals. He helped the church set up before services and break down the room afterward. He served as a small-group leader and before long decided to become a licensed pastor. That opened the door for him to become an executive pastor at Sandals, a role he’s had for nearly five years. He’s overseen small-group leaders and men’s leaders alike and calls joining the staff one of his best life decisions.
While most volunteers don’t join the pastoral team, Brown says that Sandals invites churchgoers to give their feedback to church staff. “Not just about negative things, but about positive things,” Brown says.
Located in Southern California, Sandals also stands out because of its racial diversity. People from a wide range of ethnic groups gather together for worship.
“I might shake someone’s hand from Pakistan, somebody’s hand from Africa,” Brown says. “I’ll meet somebody from Mexico or somebody from a South American country, Japan, China, all over the world and back.”
The community is also home to several universities, such as the University of California at Riverside, which means there is no shortage of students in the area.
While its location gives Sandals some advantages, Brown says there’s also a downside. Riverside is an hour away from the beach, the mountains and the desert. Accordingly, some people would rather be outdoors than in a church building.
Sandals manages to compete with it surroundings because the leaders are not only passionate but also desperate to share the gospel. Brown summed up the three factors driving the church’s growth.
“I think the vision, a spirit of desperation and thirdly a willingness to be flexible,” he says. “We’re willing to try anything that’s difficult.”
Read more Outreach 100 fastest-growing church profiles »
SANDALS CHURCH
Riverside, California
Founding and Lead Pastor: Matt Brown
Website: SandalsChurch.com
Twitter: @PastorMattBrown, @SandalsChurch
Facebook: /SandalsChurch
Founded: 1997
Affiliation: Southern Baptist
Locations: 3
A 2016 OUTREACH 100 CHURCH
Attendance: 6,333
Growth in 2015: +868 (16%)
Fastest-Growing: 45
Largest: 83

10 Poisons That Will Kill Any Church

By Todd Gaddis

“We live in a time when churches need revitalization and renewal.”

I read recently that thousands of churches close their doors every year. Who knows how many others are on life support? We live in a time when churches need revitalization and renewal. The eternal destiny of people depend on the faithful witness of local churches.
As I think about churches dying, I’m reminded there are certain poisons that are causes of death. I call them poisons because they are deadly, but they are avoidable. The churches that die from them do so by their own hand.
Here are 10 poisons that will kill any church.
Performance without participation
Like concerts, movies and athletic events, much of our worship has become spectator-oriented. A handful of well-trained (perhaps paid) musicians perform for the masses. Too often, we enjoy entertainment without experiencing engagement.
Information without inspiration
With advancement in technology and a multitude of media sources, we are drowning in information. Clearly, this phenomenon has spilled over into the church. Sermons, conferences, seminars and Bibles studies are good, but some have sat and soaked so long that they’ve soured.
Mirrors without windows
Too many churches stare at themselves in the mirror, primping and preparing for the home town fans. Instead, we should be peering out windows, looking for local needs and global opportunities.
Attachment without commitment
Those who used to attend two or three times a month are now coming once or twice. Most people I run across claim an affiliation with a congregation, yet too many lack affection for its mission. They want to be included on the roll without taking a role.

Ritual without spontaneity
When a young man was asked why he didn’t go to church, he replied, “I’ve been.” Church services are too often boring, irrelevant and predictable. We speak a different language on Sunday than the rest of the week. We’re saying the same things, singing the same songs and voicing the same prayers.
Prosperity without generosity
Most congregants are employed and making decent money, yet this good fortune isn’t spilling over into the offering plate. Tithers are dying and tippers are taking their place. “Donations are on course to drop by 70 percent within 25 to 30 years—due to the deaths of the most generous generations,” says John Dickerson in The Great Evangelical Recession.                       
Addition without reproduction
Much of what we call church growth is actually sheep swapping. We play musical pews, as Christians hop from church to church. Some churches may be adding to their membership, yet how many of these constitute a net gain for the Kingdom?
Birth without growth
It’s wonderful when the nursery is full of newborns, yet not so good when they make up a sizable portion of the congregation each Sunday. If your first grade child or grandchild made an A on a test of one-digit addition and subtraction problems, you’d beam with pride. However, would you feel the same way if your high school calculus student aced that same set of problems?
Membership without conversion
According to Christian author and researcher George Barna “half of all adults who attend Protestant churches on a typical Sunday morning are not Christian.” Having spent 14 years as an unsaved church member, I’m especially sensitive to this sad situation. A name on the church roll doesn’t forward to the Lamb’s book of life.
Duty without love
Too many 21^st-century congregations are modeling the first-century church at Ephesus (Rev 2:1-7). Calendars are full but hearts are empty. Love for Jesus, fellow saints and one another is growing cold in these later days (Matthew 24:12).
I wish I had simple solutions to these critical issues. It’ll take widespread revival to reverse these trends. In the meantime, while we pray for and anticipate such a move from God, we can strive to make sure the people we shepherd and churches we serve buck the trend.
Are there other poisons you’ve seen kill churches? If so, mention them in the comments.

Why Won’t God End My Suffering?

By MaryLynn Johnson

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“God is good, not cruel.”

I don’t remember the day I was diagnosed with a physical disability. I was only three years old. Disability is something that has always been a part of my life, and it probably always will.
Growing up, there was no doubt in my mind God created me the way he had for a reason. This disability would be present in my life for as long as he had chosen, to fulfill his mysterious but good purposes.
Still, as I’ve grown up, I also have come to see that sickness is not what God originally intended for our bodies. Sickness is confined to this sinful world where we live for a brief time. Suffering is a sign that we’re broken, and in need of a Savior. It also points to God’s power and sovereignty. I know God can heal people, but I also know he may choose not to, for our good.
Those two things can be difficult to reconcile. If God can end our suffering on earth, why doesn’t he? Why does he allow sickness to afflict us if sickness is not what he ultimately and eternally wants for us?
There are no easy answers. But it is OK, even good, to wrestle with questions like these. The grieving and wrestling brings us back to precious truths for the suffering.

God Is Good, Not Cruel

When I see circumstances of suffering in my own life or in the lives of others, my mind immediately turns to why questions. God declares that he works all things together for the good of those who love him, “those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
But how are we supposed to interpret suffering as something good? It seems unfair that he would prolong our pain, allowing it to rob some of the quality or length of our life.
God does desire for our bodies to be whole one day. He also desires for our hearts to be drawn to him with a profound understanding of his grace and love.
C.S. Lewis summarized it well in The Problem of Pain: “On the one hand, if God is wiser than we, his judgement must differ from ours on many things, and not least on good and evil. What seems to us good may therefore not be good in his eyes, and what seems to us evil may not be evil.”
When it does seem as if God is withholding healing from us, it is not because he is cruel. Our understanding is limited, and we will never fully see things from his perspective. We may have trouble comprehending how God can use suffering for good, but we also do not have the wisdom or authority to say it cannot be true.

Desiring Healing and Embracing Suffering

When suffering enters our lives, we often feel like there are only two choices: 1) accept our circumstances will never improve, or 2) constantly wish for something to change.
But we are not limited to those choices. God has given us a unique freedom through Christ that enables us to simultaneously hope for future healing and restoration, while also embracing peace in the midst of our suffering today. This freedom allows us to engage our doubts and questions, and still cultivate the contentment to which we’ve been called. It shows us that struggling does not prove our lack of faith; it strengthens our faith as we look to God’s word for answers and apply the hope of his promises to our immediate and difficult circumstances.
It is OK to want things to be different. When we bring our requests before God, we have the opportunity to model the example Christ himself gave us in his prayer before the crucifixion (Luke 22:42). He exemplified both a genuine hope for something different as well as an acceptance of God-ordained suffering.
Jesus did not hesitate to ask the Father for another way to accomplish his plan, but his requests were ultimately presented with a heart of surrender.

Everything We Need

Feelings of insufficiency and envy are some of the hardest to fight in the midst of suffering, walking through all the overwhelming questions. But in humility, and carried along by grace, we wrestle both to rejoice with others in their healing and to walk alongside others through their pain, knowing our suffering cannot and should not be compared.
We need to remember that God’s care for us is deep, and he will always provide everything we need. He already has.
Perfect health is something I have never known in this life. But if I don’t have it, I do not need it to accomplish what God has planned for me. He didn’t make a mistake when he made me. Nothing in my life has ever happened outside of his will. My physical limitations do not disqualify me from the tasks that have been and will be assigned to me. In fact, I believe they have strangely and beautifully prepared me for those tasks. The circumstances and inconveniences have been given to me, and I trust they are part of God providing what I need for his calling on my life.
Healing in this life may come. Or we may be called to a deeper and more rewarding journey of faith through our suffering. There’s no denying that the road is hard, but God is here to walk beside us and remind us that he is working in all our circumstances.
Eventually our suffering will come to an end. If we are in Christ, it is only temporary. On that day, when faith becomes sight, we will experience glory that will not be worth comparing to every hard thing we have experienced on this earth.

MaryLynn Johnson

MaryLynn Johnson (@MaryLynnJohnson) is a writer and blogger with a heart for ministry and using words to encourage others. Keep up with her at Letting Go of Why.

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What REALLY Changes the World

By Dan Wilt

It is not a meme, lyric or anything else that will change hearts.

If we believe a Gospel of words will change our culture, we are misguided. It is a Gospel of power that changes lives. Lives changed by the power of God, in turn, create a culture that has the power to change culture.
Words convey powerful ideas, but no meme, post, lyric or teaching will change a destiny. It is the Spirit’s power working through words, or perhaps more accurately, words formed by and articulating the leading Gospel of power, that will bring transformation.
God’s power is most profoundly expressed through His all-surpassing Love. Every sign and wonder God gives, every renewing experience of grace and forgiveness, is powered by God’s heart for humankind.
If we want a Gospel of power, we must first welcome the Gospel of Love to overtake our own hearts. Having tasted the healing and restoring gift of God’s Love, we are then empowered to embody that same Love to the world around us.
In this we see that power only finds its healthy foundation in Love. Power, uprooted from a loved heart that loves in return, will corrupt everything it touches—including the one that holds it.
A Gospel of power, motivated by love and flowing from loved hearts, will manifest itself in miracles that change the heart, heal the body, restore the mind, free the emotions and alter the systems of this world.
It is a Gospel of power, rooted and established in a Jesus-vision of Love, that will change the world.
This article originally appeared here.

Dan Wilt

Dan Wilt, M.Min. is an artist, author, musician, educator, songwriter, communicator, and spiritual life writer. With 20+ years in the Vineyard family of churches, he serves in various ways to further a “New Creation” centered vision of the Christian life through media.

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The Four Keys to Creating Great Relationships

By Jarrid Wilson

“Loving people well means going out of our way to let them know it.”

Marriage and fatherhood have both taught me a lot about the importance building great relationships, and what it truly means to establish ones that thrive rather than run dry and fade away. I want my family to create meaningful relationships with people that will stand the test of time, not crumble during times of pain and uncertainty. Throughout the Bible, we see Jesus cultivating relationships with all different types of people from all different types of backgrounds. He did this by doing four key things: listening well, loving well, serving well and forgiving well. Jesus is the ultimate example of a great relationship maker, and I think applying these four keys will help you establish long-lasting connections.

1. Listen Well

Anyone who has been married for any amount of time will tell you that there is a big difference between hearing someone and listening to them. And even though I’ve been at fault for this more times than I’d love to admit, the difference between the two remains the same. When we listen to someone instead of simply hearing them, we focus our attention on their words, we feel the emotion behind each word, and try to make a connection to the why behind each emotion. Our hearts are focused on the heart of the individual instead of wondering when the conversation will be over.
Whether the relationship is work-related, a family member, a friend or even your significant other, listening well will help any relationship flourish to its potential. Don’t let the distractions around you get in the way of listening to someone sitting right in front of you. You cannot build healthy relationships with half-hearted listening skills. Put down your phone, get off your computer, lower your music and fixate your attention on the importance of listening to the people talking to you. Give them the attention they deserve. Your relationship depends on it.
“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry.” —James 1:19

2. Love Well

Love is one of those things everyone talks about, but very few people put into action. When we look at love as it pertains to the Bible, we see that the love of Jesus has no boundaries, is without limitation and is referenced an average of 250 times depending on which version you read. Jesus loved people in a way that was radical and scandalous. The act of love is important because the Bible says it to be so. Loving people well means going out of our way to let them know it, and not withholding love from someone just because we disapprove of their actions or way of life. True love has no limitations, and we must allow this form of love to exude from every part of our existence. Loving well means every part of our life should exude the love of Jesus.
“The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” —Mark 12:31

3. Serve Well

Service comes in various shapes and forms, but one of the ultimate examples of servanthood was Jesus washing the disciples’ feet in John 13:1-17. Jesus went out of his way to help the disciples, serve them in a time of need, and show them that there was nothing too big or too small that he wouldn’t do for them. In the same way, great relationships thrive when people are continuously trying to out-serve one another.
We serve not to gain recognition, but because Jesus came to serve us first. We’re called to go out of our ways to help people each and every day. This could be something as simple as opening up a door or as monumental as helping someone pay their rent. Regardless, we’re called to serve well. Servanthood and thriving relationships go hand in hand.
“So then, as we have the opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” —Galatians 6:10

4. Forgive Well

When we forgive people, we’re freeing ourselves just as much as the person we are extending grace to. Forgiveness is a vital part of thriving relationship. There are many people in my life who I have had to forgive regardless if I’ve agreed with their decisions, and I base this forgiveness on the reality that Jesus forgave you and me while we were still sinners. We didn’t deserve it, but it was a gift that has brought our relationship with Jesus to a whole different level. It’s incomparable to anything this world can offer. When we incorporate forgiveness into the forefront of any relationship, we are indefinitely setting up that relationship for success.
Every time we install forgiveness into a relational quarrel or mishap, we help build trust and understanding with each individual at hand. Forgiveness isn’t always easy, but it’s always worth it in the long run. Don’t let any relationship fall prey to grudges and resentment.
“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” —Colossians 3:13

Jarrid Wilson

Jarrid Wilson is a husband, pastor and author relentlessly sharing the love of Jesus.

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Free Youth Lesson Package: “The New You: Putting on Your New Self”

Help your students embrace God’s call to righteousness and holiness.

Free Youth Lesson Package

From YM360, “This free Bible Study lesson will help your students see that they are a “new person” in Christ, and commit to embracing God’s call to righteousness and holiness.”
This lesson package includes:

• Bible background
• Lesson plan
• Discussion questions

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Resource provided by YouthMinistry360.com

Is Your Youth Group Too Much Fun?

By Brooklyn Lindsey

A surprising answer to this oft-asked question.

Are fun and spiritual depth at odds?
It can feel that way sometimes. It can be perceived that we are either deep or fun, but not both. And I don’t want that to be our reputation. No way.
I talked about this on the YM Answers podcast a while back. I hope you’ll check it out! But until you’ve got a minute for that, here’s a bit of my journey regarding the question and also a solution that worked for us in our youth ministry.
Is your youth group too much fun?
Never.
Your youth group can never be too much fun.
I repeat, your youth group can never be too much fun.
At the same time, your youth group can never be too intentional about growing closer to God and each other.
I realize this puts us all in a bit of a situation—but it’s nothing a little creativity and prayer can’t fix.
A few years ago I decided to switch up the order of things in our youth ministry because the model I was following wasn’t giving me the results I wanted.
I attended a seminar at a Youth Specialties conference years ago about how to lead worship. Chris Tomlin was presenting. He knows a little bit about it. No, I don’t sing or even pretend to sing. I whisper sing (because it’s better for humanity). But, I am intuitively drawn to learning about everything that doesn’t apply to my current situation. I’m not sure where this came from or why. But I love to learn about other people’s challenges and areas of expertise. I feel like it gets me out of all sorts of mind traps. I will never be the person in the room who is stuck. If I have a problem, I’ll figure out what a rocket engineer would do, learn the rubric behind their reasoning, apply it to my current situation, then see what happens. Strangely, it’s worked for me. Back to Chris.
The bottom line—the lesson I learned in the workshop in Charlotte North Carolina that year was this:
“You’ve got to let a song breathe.”
That means, if something is working while you’re leading, then you should be flexible enough to stay there for longer or to move on sooner.
This meant that having a youth program where we do what we normally do was too rigid.
Typical Youth Group Environment
• Play Walk-In Music/Organized Chaos (10 minutes)
• Say Hello (2 minutes)
• Play a fun icebreaker game (5 minutes)
• Play an embarrassing upfront game (5 minutes)
• Sing one-to-three songs, depending on how squirrely the room is (10 minutes)
• Talk and Teach (15-25 minutes)
• Sing another song maybe (3 minutes)
• Pray (1 minute or 10 depending, on how everyone’s been acting the last 45 minutes)
• Attend small groups on another day of the week
I saw a few things happening.

1. Moments didn’t have time to breathe. When kids felt God’s Spirit, or needed more time to respond, it was already time to leave. I had kids who wanted more time to pray.
2. We dipped into everything for a few minutes but didn’t dig into anything for longer more impacting amounts of time.
3. Three minutes of fun isn’t enough.
4. Three minutes of prayer isn’t enough.
5. Modeling teaching and singing as the only ways to practice spirituality isn’t enough. Kids need more. They’re wired to feel, experience and express. I wasn’t seeing enough spaces to do that.
So, I applied the rule of worship to our youth ministry. (Thank you Chris Tomlin.)
We asked:
How do we give significant moments a chance to breathe when they need to breathe? How do I customize our youth ministry in a way that makes it malleable for us as leaders? When we see that something is needed more, how do we change the pattern?
I decided to try a rotation approach that would give us a better feel for whole youth ministry—where celebration, compassion, community are working together and being emphasized in greater more impacting moments.
Here’s a sample of what our team implemented:
Wednesday nights would have a program, adjusted to make more time at the back end, with a rotating emphasis each week. We would still do the program like you’ve read above but we might shrink the game to 1 or 2 minutes if we’re planning on playing games after for 30. We might add songs and cut talk time. We might make the message longer or shorter if small groups need extra time. I cut my talk down to 10-15 minutes and began relying on our small group leaders to cultivate community and to become spiritual guides and fun captains for the kids in their circle.
Shortened Youth Min Program (45-60 minutes)
Rotation Program (30-45 minutes)
• Week 1 – Small Groups
• Week 2 – Games (30 minutes of insanity)
• Week 3 – Small Groups
• Week 4 – Spiritual Formation or Prayer Spaces
• Week 5 – Small Groups
For us, we’d physically transition to another room or space. But if you’ve only got one room to work with, I could still see this working for you with some help and creativity from your leaders.
Everything we did was led, organized and fueled by our small group leaders. This is how we let things breathe. Some weeks we’d change it up and decide to do another week of small groups. Some months we’d establish two fun nights instead of having just one. We’d circle up as leaders and we’d pray. We’d ask, what makes sense? When was the last time they really connected with God in silence or in creativity? The school year is unpredictable. Life is unpredictable. Think about the weeks when a teenager dies and your entire group is mourning. It gave us an ability to respond and adjust in the moment. It normalized flexibility.
It means being in the moment of your ministry, listening and not being afraid of trying something new.
How are things working for you? Is there space for things to breathe? Are you having fun? Are you growing deep.
All of it is possible.
This article originally appeared here.

If God Gives You Influence…

By Ron Edmondson

“If God gives you influence, the enemy gives you attention!”

If God gives you influence, the enemy gives you attention!

We shouldn’t be surprised when we see pastors and church leaders struggle. They are human—imperfect humans.

I have witnessed over the years—watching others and with my own experience—it’s often in the seasons where everything seems to be going so well when temptation is greatest.
Should we be surprised? I think not! We’ve been warned—and told how to respond.
Be self‑controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 1 Peter 5:8-9
Pray for a pastor or church leader today. And, drop them a quick note to let them know you did.

Ron Edmondson

Ron Edmondson is a pastor and church leader passionate about planting churches, helping established churches thrive, and assisting pastors and those in ministry think through leadership, strategy and life. Ron has over 20 years business experience, mostly as a self-employed business owner, and he's been helping churches grow vocationally for over 10 years.

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Why Hospitality Beats Entertaining

By Jen Wilkin

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“Serve instead the high-heaped feast of hospitality, even as it has been served to you.”

On November 6, 2010, I tweeted the most regrettable tweet of my mediocre social media career. In anticipation of the holiday season, I decided to weigh in on hospitality. The tweet was a flawless blend of selective memory and self-righteousness, designed to heap condemnation on the heads of my followers under the guise of offering wise counsel. It was a verbal “selfie” snapped from my best angle, positioned to make me look very, very good. Let’s have a look at it, shall we?

Note the double-whammy: If your house isn’t orderly on a daily basis, you will withhold hospitality from others and set a bad example for your children. Moms everywhere, be encouraged!
Several years later, I still cringe remembering that tweet, mainly because I’ve failed to live up to it repeatedly ever since. I presume my house was spotless on November 6, 2010, but it has rarely been so since. Even as I type, I am looking out across a disordered landscape of scattered laundry, schoolbooks, dusty baseboards and chipped paint. That tweet neglected to mention what my house looked like when my children were small, how I would hide clutter in the dryer when guests came, how hard I found it just to get dinner on the table for my own family, much less for someone else’s. So I regret that I proposed to moms a standard to which I could not hold myself.
But more importantly, I regret that tweet because I have come to recognize that the standard it proposed is flawed. It revealed my own lack of understanding about the nature and purpose of hospitality. In my self-righteous desire to offer advice, I had confused hospitality with its evil twin, entertaining.
The two ideas could not be more different.

What’s the Difference?

Entertaining involves setting the perfect tablescape after an exhaustive search on Pinterest. It chooses a menu that will impress, and then frets its way through each stage of preparation. It requires every throw pillow to be in place, every cobweb to be eradicated, every child to be neat and orderly. It plans extra time to don the perfect outfit before the first guest touches the doorbell on the seasonally decorated doorstep. And should any element of the plan fall short, entertaining perceives the entire evening to have been tainted. Entertaining focuses attention on self.
Hospitality involves setting a table that makes everyone feel comfortable. It chooses a menu that allows face time with guests instead of being chained to the stovetop. It picks up the house to make things pleasant, but doesn’t feel the need to conceal evidences of everyday life. It sometimes sits down to dinner with flour in its hair. It allows the gathering to be shaped by the quality of the conversation rather than the cuisine. Hospitality shows interest in the thoughts, feelings, pursuits and preferences of its guests. It is good at asking questions and listening intently to answers. Hospitality focuses attention on others.

Entertaining is always thinking about the next course. Hospitality burns the rolls because it was listening to a story.
Entertaining obsesses over what went wrong. Hospitality savors what was shared.
Entertaining, exhausted, says, “It was nothing, really!” Hospitality thinks it was nothing. Really.
Entertaining seeks to impress. Hospitality seeks to bless.
But the two practices can look so similar. Two people can set the same beautiful tablescape and serve the same gourmet meal, one with a motive to impress, the other with a motive to bless. How can we know the difference? Only the second would invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind to pull up a chair and sip from the stemware (Luke 14:12–14). Our motives are revealed not just in how we set our tables, but in who we invite to join us at the feast. Entertaining invites those whom it will enjoy. Hospitality takes all comers.

Why Be Hospitable?

Hospitality is about many things, but it is not about keeping a perpetually orderly home. After my deplorable tweet, I humbly attempted a do-over:

Orderly house or not, hospitality throws wide the doors. It offers itself expecting nothing in return. It keeps no record of its service, counts no cost, craves no thanks. It is nothing less than the joyous, habitual offering of those who recall a gracious table set before them in the presence of their enemies (Ps. 23:5), of those who look forward to a glorious table yet to come (Rev. 19:6–9).
It is a means by which we imitate our infinitely hospitable God.
So, more than five years later, here is my advice to myself: Forego the empty pleasure of entertaining. Serve instead the high-heaped feast of hospitality, even as it has been served to you.
This article originally appeared here.

3 Reasons You Should Use Prayer Request Cards in Youth Ministry

By Brian Berry

Why challenging your students to write down and keep track of their prayers can have a powerful impact.

Recently, I asked students to turn in written prayer requests as a way to start off the year right. I invited them to write down an invitation to ask God to move in their life in a specific area. Some students did nothing with them, but some dove in. Some dove in deep.
How deep? Well one girl, at the end of service, on her very first time in our youth group, walked up to me and handed me a prayer card. As she started to walk away I read it and realized that it said her mom had died just five days earlier. It doesn’t get any deeper than that. The truth is, she wouldn’t say it to me, but she would write it down. I called her back. We hugged and cried. We prayed.
As she walked away and as I had this card in my hand, I realized I was holding a deep spiritual need that I would have never known about had we not had these cards. She sat at a table of girls and talked and smiled and said nothing about it.
As a youth worker, I can’t afford to not know that kind of stuff. We can’t afford to not know this. Too much is at stake. If you work with high school students, let me encourage you with just one thing: Find a way to gather the prayer requests of your students.
For this purpose, I want to strongly encourage you to: USE PRAYER CARDS.
Why? Well, if the story above isn’t reason enough, then here are my top three reasons:
1. STUDENTS WILL WRITE STUFF THEY CAN’T OR WON’T SAY OUT LOUD:
Plain and simple, call it the consequence of a texting generation or simply chalk it up to fear…but the truth is, when I hand a group of students a prayer card and ask them to write down what is weighing them down spiritually, often I find that someone has written a need they have not uttered to me or anyone else in the room.
I was reminded this last Sunday that every weekend I need to remind students that we have cards they can write stuff on and leaders who want to love on them in the midst of their unfolding life story.
2. WE CAN’T BE WITH STUDENTS ALL THE TIME:
I know you want to be a resource in the lives of your students. But you and I cannot do that 24/7 and God can. The best chance I have of coming alongside a student as a spiritual influence in their life is actually not to be with them more, but rather to constantly remember them in prayer. Apart from it being spiritually powerful, on a brutally practical level, it also helps me in the times I am with them too. I do a better job of remembering names, have a greater sense of spiritual connection and have more meaningful things to talk about when I’ve prayed for them all week.
To this end, prayer requests that are written down are a gold mine for my spiritual investment in a student as I ask God to do what only God can do in their lives.
3. THEY SET YOUR YOUTH MINISTRY APART:

Maybe they can hear music in youth group and at home. Maybe they can connect with friends at school and in your church. Maybe they can go to the snow on a trip with your ministry and with their family. Sure, maybe the activities and opportunities of church and life collide in a lot of different ways.
But when you offer a student a chance to communicate a spiritual need in their life every time they come to your ministry, you set yourself apart as a place where students know they can go to cry out to God in-and-among a faith community in ways that are both profound and distinct. And that…that is a one-of-a-kind thing that the church is supposed to be.
Sure, use a YouTube video and play relevant music and write Bible studies that relate to their lives—but don’t miss the opportunity to do the one thing they don’t do anywhere else: write down a prayer need so you and I can join them in the incomparable privilege of taking a life to God in prayer.


So, I hope you join me in this prayer card priority if you don’t already do it or even if for you, like me, it sometimes gets casually addressed instead of intentionally called out. Let’s change that.
I suppose that could look like 1,000 different things, but here’s the one we use in our ministry if you want to download it for a sample.

Brian Berry

Brian is a 17 year veteran of student ministry and is currently serving as the generation ministries pastor at Journey Community Church near San Diego, CA. As the generations pastor he is hands on in high school and oversees a staff that responsible for birth through twenty-somethings. He also blogs about his life and learnings, writes here and there including a column for group magazine, teaches youth ministry seminars, and speaks at various camps and retreats. He is married to his wife Shannon and together they have 5 kids.

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Free Youth Lesson Package: “Jesus and Stress”

Teach “Jesus and Stress” and help students see that God is the source of their peace and assurance in a stressful world.

Free Youth Lesson Package

From YM360, “Stress. It’s a dominant part of your teenagers’ daily lives. Stress over schoolwork, sports, jobs, and friends. Not to mention the stress that their home life can cause. Teenagers juggle so many responsibilities and deal with so much pressure and expectations. How can we lead them to deal with stress in a godly, Christ-centered way? Good thing Jesus had a ton to say about this. Teach Jesus and Stress and help students see that God is the source of their peace and assurance in a stressful world.”
This lesson package includes:

• Bible background
• Lesson plan
• Discussion questions

Get Download Now

Resource provided by YouthMinistry360.com

3 Keys to Sexual Purity

By Greg Stier

What Joseph of the Old Testament can teach teens about purity.

“Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ But he refused.” —Genesis 39:7,8
When Joseph was sold into slavery as a 17-year-old teenager he had no idea what awaited him. Sure he would serve time as a slave and as a prisoner, but he would also be relentlessly tempted by a beautiful older woman who wanted to have sex with him.
Joseph just said no … again and again. And his refusals would eventually lead to a chain of events that would save his family, the future nation of Israel, from starvation.
Joseph’s three keys can help keep both us and our teenagers pure from sexual sin:

1. Get buff!

From the Genesis account we know that “Joseph was well-built and handsome!” He was the type of guy whose abs got noticed on the beach and would win most arm wrestling contests. Put simply, he was ripped.
But this is not the kind of “buff” I’m talking about. As physically fit as Joseph was, he was even more spiritually fit. We know from verses like Genesis 39:2 that “the Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered.”
This assumes that Joseph was spending time in prayer, reflecting on God’s promises, aligning his life with God’s will and doing what he was doing for God’s glory. In other words Joseph was living a spiritually fit life. He’s even mentioned in Hebrews 11:22 as one of those Old Testament heroes who was characterized by a life of strong and unshakeable faith.
If our teenagers are to be sexually pure, it starts with a spiritual regimen of time in the Word, prayer and a daily declaration of dependence on the Holy Spirit. Without this they don’t stand a chance against the temptations that come at them every day through their cell phone screens and relationships with the opposite (or even same sex) that may be tempting them to cross a line.
We must help them get buff.

2. Get tough!

“Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ But he refused. ‘With me in charge,’ he told her, ‘my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?’ And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.” —Genesis 39:6-10
Joseph had to take measures to keep away from Potiphar’s seductress wife. He started by saying “no” day after day whenever she tempted him. But he finally had to just avoid her completely. Although she was the lady of the house, he was in charge of keeping it in order. So he made sure that, as often as humanly possible, he steered clear of her tempting ways.
For teenagers, this may mean choosing not to be with a certain person alone. It may also mean not sleeping in the same room with their cell phones or computers. This may mean there are certain social media platforms/websites that they must completely avoid because of the inherent temptations.
Whatever this means for your teenagers, make sure you challenge them to “get tough” and not allow themselves to be put in a place where temptation can easily be given into.

3. Get out!

“One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.” —Genesis 39:11,12
You’ve heard the statement, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Sometimes the tough should get going right out the door. When temptation strikes and is too hot to handle, we should do what Joseph did and RUN!!!
Some say running away is the coward’s response, but in this case it’s the response of the courageous. Joseph knew that he had a sinful nature that, combined with the hormones of a teenaged boy, could be a pending and powerful cocktail of compromise. So, instead of trying to fight it off he ran it off … the Old Testament version of a cold shower.
We need to teach our teenagers (and remind ourselves) that there is a time to run. When things get too tempting, we must lace up our shoes and race out the doors. On second thought, leave the shoes behind and just run!
Joseph is a powerful example of how to win against the sin of sexual compromise. He stayed pure and God used him in a powerful way to save a nation (his brothers) from obliteration.
But as great of an example as Joseph was, Jesus is even better! Not only did Jesus resist the biggest temptations ever given in the history of humanity (Matthew 4:1-11), he was crucified in our place for our sins to destroy the power of sin once and for all (Romans 6:6.) Now Jesus makes that power to live victorious lives over those sins through his indwelling Spirit (Romans 8:13.)
If you’ve fallen sexually, confess it and forsake it and then move on to a life of purity. Remember the promise of God in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Let’s learn to walk in dependence on God for victory over sin! Let’s equip our teenagers to live holy lives and share the message of God’s grace and forgiveness with everyone! Let’s equip our teenagers to get buff, get tough and, when necessary, get out!

Greg Stier

Greg Stier is the President and Founder of Dare 2 Share Ministries, which is mobilizing teenagers across America to share their faith.

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Only Our God Speaks

By Ryan Shelton

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Because Christians worship a speaking God, we approach worship differently.

Christian worship is unlike any other form of religious exercise because we worship the living God. Since our God is not like lifeless idols, we practice our faith differently than the rest of the world.
Scripture contrasts idol worship against true faith in the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18:20-40. We see a memorable scene on the mountain: hundreds of false prophets dancing around and shouting, “O Baal, answer us.” They even try cutting themselves to get their idol’s attention,
“But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made.” (1 Kings 18:26)
The account is tragic and hilarious. Elijah even joked at their solemn observance, “Maybe your god is in the bathroom…. Perhaps he’s asleep” (1 Kings 18:27). Can you imagine how shocked the false prophets would have been if Baal actually responded? How many ceremonies had these prophets participated in without hearing so much as a sigh from their revered deity?
One reason people worship idols is because they make no demands of you. It seems far safer to bow down before a god who is incapable of speaking. Maybe this is why 450 prophets were volunteering to speak on behalf of Baal—their god needed help communicating, and he wouldn’t object if they mixed up the message a bit.

Exchanging Voices

Idols are the work of human hands and completely unlike the living God (Psalm 135:6, 15). In the beginning, the Lord God fashioned us out of dust and made us in his own image to serve him only and to rule over all creation. But in the terrible exchange of idolatry, we bow before objects in our own image—or in the images of birds and beasts—and instead of serving the living God and ruling over all creation, we serve creation to escape the rule of God.
In the western world, it may be less common to stretch out in front of sculptures, but the same core impulse to serve created things is nevertheless alive and well. We know the repeat offenders: money, sex or power. Or perhaps a certain person in your life or an activity you enjoy has gradually shifted from being good to being a god.
It is so easy to start investing extreme amounts of time and energy, money and affection, in worthless worship to fake saviors. And our religious ceremonies, whether formalized in cultic practices or informal in habits, give us the illusion of worship without the intrusion of God’s authoritative voice.

The God Who Speaks

Speaking is central to God. God himself is Word, and his speech commanded nothing to be everything (John 1:1–3). “The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty” (Psalm 29:4). When God wants the dead to come to life he says, “Live!” (Ezekiel 16:6), and when Jesus wanted his friend to walk out of the grave, he spoke, “Lazarus, come out” (John 11:43). Even now, Jesus is holding together your molecules with his words (Hebrews 1:3). If Jesus were to stop speaking, you would stop existing.
How unlike the idols of this world is our speaking God. You will never hear a croak from the Baals or body-image, from Molech or money, from Asherahs or animism.
But you cannot escape the revelation of Yahweh (Psalm 19:3–4). All of our human speaking is a mere reflection of the true speech that created the world.

We Worship by the Opened Ear

Because Christians worship a speaking God, we approach worship differently than any religious sect or worshiping community.
First, we do not need to cry out like the priests of Baal, “O God, answer us,” because we recognize that our gathering only exists because God has called us out of darkness into the fellowship of light (1 Peter 2:9–10). The church is a verbally-founded gathering, and our worship begins with God’s voice calling to us, with hearing the voice that false worship can never coax from the nothingness. When you meet with your church this Sunday, you gather with people who have already heard the voice of God and responded.
Second, we expect to continue to hear his voice every time we open the word he has written for our hearing. All Scripture is breathed out by God (2 Timothy 3:16), and his word never returns void (Isaiah 55:11). We need not be like the priests of Baal, cutting themselves with knives to get their god’s attention, hoping to hear a divine word. As long as Christian worship drips with Bible, God speaks. We cry out for God to speak with authority and power in our worship meetings—and then we open up our Bibles to listen.
Finally, we can expect to see evidence of God’s voice in our churches. The proof of the Lord’s voice in our midst is powerful, new life. This side of Mount Carmel, we experience a spectacle greater than fire burning on an altar; we know the burning of our hearts as the Scriptures concerning Christ are opened (Luke 24:32). We are eyewitnesses that the God “who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).
So, gather with God’s people this weekend to hear from the God who speaks.

Ryan Shelton

Ryan Shelton (@SheltonRyan) is a graduate of Bethlehem College & Seminary. He lives in the Chicagoland North Shore where he serves as the worship director of Winnetka Bible Church. He is co-author of Promised Beforehand: Readings for Advent.

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