A Conversation with Jared
We were about to leave my wife’s parents house and return home from our family weekend, but just as we were packing our bags, I finally had the chance to fellowship with Jared. My children were excited for me to meet this young man. They were sure that we would be instant friends (because he loves Gods word and works with youth). Shay could see that we were about to enter into a God moment and she graciously gave us the time to hang out.
My new friends had a problem on his mind, “Our church just can’t seem to keep the attention of our students when we preach.” Hearing this, I was tempted to jump in with some quick preaching techniques but I resisted. After a few more questions and we were able to assess that the students were paying attention during the Wednesday group but not during the upfront teaching in their student worship service.
“What is your hang-out factor between adults and the students?” I asked.
“Not so good. We don’t have a steady team of adults working with the students. The adults are rotating in and out the ministry. Recently, I have been asked to consider teaching them, but, I am wondering if I can keep their attention.”
I replied, “I can give a great message to my students and they can remain completely distracted after only a few minutes. On the other hand, I can give a fairly basic message and the student can be completely engaged and myspace me about it during the week.”
“What makes the difference?”
“If they sense that I am for them-I capture their attention. If they sense I am more focused on ‘doing church’ they have a hard time paying attention to even the best messages. I have discovered that their attention span can be like an alarm clock telling me when my hang-out factor is low. I have also found that I can gain attention it can be quickly by simply being for them.”
“Students interactions with adults have revealed that we can sometimes care more for our mission statements than for them as people. This is not to say that adults don’t care, but we are so busy building our organizations that we can easily put students second and miss the whole point. Students need to know we are for real-that we care for them.
“Yeah, this makes sense, how can we improve our hangout factor?”
“Well I can tell you what I do in my group, but of course, yours might be slightly different. I keep each one in prayer and ask God to hear his heart beat for them. This helps me to keep my heart open to my students (which also helps in preaching). I intentionally look for ways to hang out with my students. Keeping the group playful is a must because I tend to be serious at times. It takes time to build relationships and the most effective way I know to do this is to spend the night.
“Spend the night, what do mean?”
“Have a lock-in, trips where you sleep over, or go camping (last summer we camped in a back yard). Keep a light agenda and mostly hang-out. Our group meets for about two hours during the week, but at a lock-in we can spend 10-12 hours straight without interruption. That’s like having group for a month and a half in one night.” These are some of the practical things that work for my group, but it’s not a formula-it’s a relationship. Your students will know your being real with them.
“This sounds like something I can do-I believe we can get their attention.”
(Next week I’ll post some more of our conversation)
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Tags: youth Ministry
What is a Blog?
So I have had a blog for a few months, posted poetry that I have written (see tab) and posted some blog enteries about last years Advent season to share with my worship community last Christmas. But if you asked me what exactly is blogging I would have a hard time explaining it. I found this simple video that gives an idea of what blogging is-hope you will find it helpful.
So now you know what a blog is–now create a blog and share your heart with the world.
STUDENT BLOG CHALLENGE:: Create a blog -start networking and undermine the culture!
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Tags: Blogging
Love Descending
Even though the world was in the darkness of he still loved that world and gave his Son as a sacrifice to redeem them to himself.
He descended from the heart of God,
Entered our darkness and drew back the veil.
Jesus embodied His love,
Gods love speaking,
Gods love accepting,
Gods love healing,
Gods love dying,
He became God’s love defeating death,
and carrying us back to the heart of God.
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Tags: Advent, Arrival, Christmas, Incarnation, Jesus
Burning
“If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in HIs name, there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary of holding it in and I cannot.” Jeremiah 20:9
How do explain my job as a pastor? First, it is not a job. Yeah, sure there is a job description and a line of accountability as any job may have. These are necessary and good. But regardless of the things pastors do to stay organized with the expectations of the churches we work for -we are not professionals. Our community might forget this, we might forget this, but God doesn’t.
The truth is-I can’t help myself. If I try not to do it, and I admit, I have tried not to do it, I am miserable. It is not a job but a call. This call burns inside me. When I experience the moments of true spiritual ministry it is amazing. Why God would choose me to be part of this? I don’t know. This calling can bring me into intense intimacy with God. Sometimes, it is the most boring job ever. But a wise pastor learns to dive deep into the word and wait on God for true spiritual ministry, instead busy work to feel productive . His work is that which I cannot ultimately plan to do. I just wait and burn.
Sometimes the burning can be the most restless friend I have ever had, but it is a good friend.
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Tags: Calling, Ministry
I am Eric B. Johnson. On this blog I write for my friends, my students, and my fellow pastors. Here you will find my thoughts on God, ministry, preaching and family worship. 
Subversive Mission 