Ministry Blackboard

29Oct/120

the Monday Morning Debrief: Body Language

The past few weeks, I've been listening to a lot of stuff from ESPN Radio and slew of other ESPN networks talking a lot about Cam Newton and his body language and tone of voice.  The bottom line of their discussions are they are openly questioning whether or not Cam is a leader based on his body language and tone of voice. Here is just 1 picture of some body language Cam has been displaying recently.

Ok Tom this is cool, but how does this apply to ministry?

I believe it applies a lot because how we communicate to students, parents, other staffers about our programs is vital.  It can either leave them feeling excited about the direction and progress of the program.  Or, it could leave them wondering if they will attend or if you are the right "leader" for the ministry.  It doesn't matter if your ministry is going through a tough time or not, as leaders, people look to you for direction and guidance.  If what you communicate non-verbally is something that doesn't line up with what you are saying verbally, the likelihood of them following and participating could be greatly diminished.

So right now, TAKE A MINUTE and think about it.  What kind of body language are you projecting to those you interact with in ministry?  Is it positive, upbeat?  Or is it down and out?  Or do you think it even matters? What you communicate non-verbally to those around you can be even more telling than what you communicate verbally to them.

 Agree?  Disagree?  Experiences with this?  Post a comment about it so that we can all learn from each other and benefit.

 

Possibly Related Posts:


Tagged as: , , , , , , No Comments
21May/120

the Monday Morning Debrief: Relearning

When I was hired as the Family Guy at New Life, I went from leader and "doer" of Youth Ministry to a manager of youth and children ministries.  There were a lot of things I had to learn and change about how I functioned as a minister taking on this "management" position.

But then, in November, I was asked to take over the Youth Program that was struggling.  I did and I have enjoyed it a lot!  However, I had to once again change the way I functioned as a staffer at New Life.  I was still "managing" the children's ministry but I was no leading and "doing" the Youth Ministry.  In fact, there were many things about doing youth ministry that I had to relearn.

Relearning Youth Ministry was a bit odd to me because I was out of daily leading a youth program for over a year.  I actually felt like Tim Tebow before he was drafted by the Broncos.  ESPN did this great piece on him on how he had to relearn how to throw the football so he could be a better passer in the NFL.

So, now being back on the front lines of youth ministry for 6 months now, here are a few things I had to relearn:

  • Identifying, recruiting, training and developing leaders.  Being at a bigger church and not knowing as many people, I have had a harder time identifying potential leaders.  But as I have gotten to know the existing leaders and built even more relationships with the congregation, it has been great sitting down and talking to all the new potential leaders.  Then, developing a development plan for each existing leader has been a blast as well as I get to sit with them and get to know them on a deeper level and help take them to the next level of their leadership.
  • Digging into the day to day operations again.  Being a "manager" meant I just had to make sure things were getting doing.  But now being the leader and in charge of doing or delegating all the things.  So I had to relearn how to best run this program.  What works and what doesn't...finding my happy place in ministry again

Those are just 2 quick things I had to relearn and get immersed in again.  So what about you?  Is there something you have to relearn in youth ministry to be more effective?  TAKE A MINUTE right now and share a thought or comment about this so we can all benefit.

Possibly Related Posts:


Tagged as: , , , , , , No Comments
5Aug/112

Always on Display

Recently, the University of Southern California (USC) football team suspended projected starting RB Marc Tyler for making innappropriate comments to TMZ.  To read the article from ESPN detailing what was said and the reaction that followed, click here.

This is just yet another example of how our lives, as believers and ministers, are always public.  No matter where you are or what you are doing; whether it is on Facebook, Twitter or Google +, what you think could be/is private is never really private.  Things you say and do can always come back to haunt you.  That is why you have always be on your guard at all times.

I had a policy when I was a Youth Director and now I have it as a Family Minister for all my Staff and Volunteers that nothing questionable can be on their Facebook or Twitter page.  For instance, I don't want to see pictures of the leaders with beer in their hands or at a questionable party.  Now I don't care if they have a beer and they are over 21 - it is their legal right.  However, I don't want to have our students and parents we are ministering to see those pictures. I hold the same policy for inappropriate language as well.  The reason is simple - it gives people an excuse to drink and do inappropriate things in their own life.

Because we are always on display, it is vitally important that we are cautious in the image we project.  I'm not saying we have to project that we are perfect and have no struggles.  That's not real, authentic or accurate.  However, there are things that we can control that will either paint us in a godly, Christlike light or in a light that distracts from Christ's example.  In everything we do we will either draw people closer to Christ and drive them further away.

So TAKE A MINUTE and think through what image you are projecting to people.  Is it an example that, while real and authentic, drives people towards Christ or away from him?  As Christ says in Matthew 5:16, "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

Agree?  Disagree?  Thoughts, comments and questions are always welcome

Possibly Related Posts:


Tagged as: , , , , , , , , 2 Comments
26Apr/110

Do we do a yearly Ministry Draft?

Every April the NFL does it's yearly draft selecting from the best college prospects so that their team could be better for the upcoming years.  Listening to Mike & Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio this morning on my way to the airport for the Orange '11 Conference made me think, do we do a yearly Ministry Draft in our student ministry departments?

Thinking out-loud and very fresh in my mind, this is how I see we do our Ministry Draft - see if you can follow me on this:

  • Each year we say good-bye to our seniors just like each NFL team says good-byes to certain players via retires, trades or free-agency.
  • Also, every year, we add new people to our ministry.  We do this through rising middle and high school students from elementary school and through visitors checking us out for the 1st time.
  • Now, out of all those new people we take a look back, get to know them (as the NFL teams do before the draft) and then evaluate who they are and the potential they have to help us out in ministry.  In a sense, rather unconsciously, we pick and choose who to invest our time in and who not to invest our time in.
  • The current players (or students) are there to add life to the program and add critical components to the team, but the people we invest time into and draft with lots of potential are going to be the people we deem as the fast ships.  They are the 1st round selections that are eager to grow in Christ and get the vision of reaching out to their friends.  They are going to help our program grow which means more students will be able to hear about Christ which means more people will discover Christ as their Lord and savior which equals a winning season for our program.

Now, please remember, this post came to me very quickly and I processed this through my writing, but looking back on things and how we do ministry, do we, as Student Ministry Directors do a Ministry Draft each year?

TAKE A MINUTE and process this and post a comment.  It'd be great to see what kind of discussion we can get about this.  I'm not saying this is right or wrong, it is just a thought that came to mind and I wanted to process it with all of you.  What do you think?

Also if you are at the Orange '11 Conference this week in Atlanta, come and find me.  I'll be blogging all week there.

Possibly Related Posts:


Tagged as: , , , , , No Comments
   

Connect:

Tom’s Twitter Updates

Recent Comments