What's a Youth Minister to Do? Part 1

By Voddie Baucham Jr.

Since publishing my articles on youth ministry, I have been bombarded with questions from youth pastors who agree (in principle) with what I have written, but haven’t the foggiest idea what to do about it. Unfortunately, most of them go away disappointed when they realize that I’m not talking about tweaking a program, but changing a paradigm. This is not a quick fix. What we have is severely flawed at best. Thus, the steps necessary to change it are neither easy, nor pretty.

Step One: Update Your Resume

The first step requires brutal honesty. You are in a situation that is almost guaranteed to blow up in your face. First, You have a group of parents who have abdicated their responsibility to their teens (mainly because the church has taught them to do so). Second, due to the nature of your position, you may lack both the credentials and the credibility necessary to oversee a ministry to the parents of these teens and train them to disciple their children. Third, the fact that you have been hired as a youth minister means the leadership in your church either doesn’t understand, agree with, or support the idea of family integration/parental responsibility in the discipleship of teens. Or they just don’t think it is a realistic goal. They believe YM is necessary because parents can't and/or won’t do their job.

With all of these factors staring you in the face, you must realize that movement on your part in the direction of training, expecting and holding parents accountable to disciple their children is likely to be met with opposition and perhaps, the loss of your job. I have seen this on more occasions than I care to count. Many who attempt to move in the FIC direction are viewed as an idealistic, unrealistic, immature kid who hasn’t a clue about the way the world (or the church) works. Or worse, you will be accused of no longer caring about teens whose parents can’t or won’t disciple them (welcome to my world).

If you have children and begin to take charge of their discipleship (and back away from the ministries provided by your church), you may be accused of undermining church programs and setting a poor example for the members, and you may ultimately lose your job. If you work in a church with ministers who have wild, disobedient, rebellious, children who have not been discipled at home by their pastor/parents (who should be disqualified according to 1 Timothy 3:4,5; Titus 1:6) then you will most assuredly rock the boat and may eventually lose your job. If you grasp the controversial concept of education as a necessary part of discipleship, you will alienate the overwhelming majority of families in your church (and the school teachers, administrators, etc.) and most assuredly lose your job.

In short, it is very likely that any movement toward the family integrated philosophy on behalf of a youth pastor will result in the loss of his job. There are, however, a few exceptions. First, if you have the full support of the pastor you may not lose your job. Second, if you are a 40+ year-old youth minister with a track record of raising your own teenaged children and bringing them to respectful, theologically sound, biblical maturity, you may not lose your job (you’ll just be reassigned as the minister to families and be replaced by a 20-something). Third, if you keep the youth ministry in tact and use family integration as a program for ‘truly committed’ parents while continuing to act as a scapegoat for the majority of the parents of teens in your church, you may not lose your job.

Then again, each of these scenarios is likely to lead to the establishment of a faction of committed parents who see the fruit of family discipleship and begin to hunger for more. This small faction is likely to cause conviction and unrest among other parents of teens in the church who see them as ‘over zealous’ parents with too much time on their hands and too much interaction with and influence over their children (to quote a number of critics who have written in). Eventually, this will cause unrest, and possibly division in the church, in which case –you guessed it—you will lose your job. So, you might want to update that resume.

6 Reasons Why Pastors Should Blog

Pastors should blog…

1. …to write.

If you’re a pastor, you probably already know the value writing has for thinking. Through writing, you delve into new ideas and new insights. If you strive to write well, you will at the same time be striving to think well.

Then when you share new ideas and new insights, readers can come along with you wherever your good writing and good thinking bring you.

There is no better way to simply and quickly share your writing than by maintaining a blog. And if you’re serious about your blog, it will help you not only in your thinking, but in your discipline as well, as people begin to regularly expect quality insight from you.

2. …to teach.

Most pastors I’ve run into love to talk. Many of them laugh at themselves about how long-winded they’re sometimes tempted to be.

Enter Blog.

Here is where a pastor has an outlet for whatever he didn’t get to say on Sunday. Your blog is where you can pass on that perfect analogy you only just thought of; that hilarious yet meaningful story you couldn’t connect to your text no matter how hard you tried; that last point you skipped over even though you needed it to complete your 8-point acrostic sermon that almost spelled HUMILITY.

And more than just a catch-all for sermon spill-over, a blog is a perfect place for those 30-second nuggets of truth that come in your devotions or while you’re reading the newspaper. You may never write a full-fledged article about these brief insights or preach a whole sermon, but via your blog, your people can still learn from them just like you did.

6 Reasons Why Pastors Should Blog

Pastors should blog…

1. …to write.

If you’re a pastor, you probably already know the value writing has for thinking. Through writing, you delve into new ideas and new insights. If you strive to write well, you will at the same time be striving to think well.

Then when you share new ideas and new insights, readers can come along with you wherever your good writing and good thinking bring you.

There is no better way to simply and quickly share your writing than by maintaining a blog. And if you’re serious about your blog, it will help you not only in your thinking, but in your discipline as well, as people begin to regularly expect quality insight from you.

2. …to teach.

Most pastors I’ve run into love to talk. Many of them laugh at themselves about how long-winded they’re sometimes tempted to be.

Enter Blog.

Here is where a pastor has an outlet for whatever he didn’t get to say on Sunday. Your blog is where you can pass on that perfect analogy you only just thought of; that hilarious yet meaningful story you couldn’t connect to your text no matter how hard you tried; that last point you skipped over even though you needed it to complete your 8-point acrostic sermon that almost spelled HUMILITY.

And more than just a catch-all for sermon spill-over, a blog is a perfect place for those 30-second nuggets of truth that come in your devotions or while you’re reading the newspaper. You may never write a full-fledged article about these brief insights or preach a whole sermon, but via your blog, your people can still learn from them just like you did.

"The Sin of Infant Baptism", written by a sinning Baptist

By Mark Dever

In my article in the new 9Marks e-journal, I wrote, "I have many dear paedo-baptists friends from whom I have learned much. Yet I see their practice as a sinful (though sincere) error from which God protects them by allowing for inconsistency in their doctrinal system, just as he graciously protects me from consistency with my own errors."That statement, much to my surprise, has caused concern among some. That a Baptist thinks infant baptism is wrong was no news to earlier generations of paedobaptists.

Today, it seems to be a surprise. Now, the truth is out, all of these years, I have been cooperating with those I take to be sinners--Ligon Duncan, Peter Jensen, Phillip Jensen, Philip Ryken, J. I. Packer and many others too numerous to name--sinners specifically on this point of infant baptism. I have been speaking with them at conferences, having them as friends, reading their books, learning from them and inviting them to preach in our congregation, even as I happily preach in theirs. Indeed, several paedobaptist ministers even have articles in that same 9Marks e-journal.

Some may think that such a "wrong" should not be called a sin. I understand a sin to be disobedience to God (regardless of intent). When I read Numbers 15:29-30 and Hebrews 9:7 I certainly see that Scripture presents some sins as being deliberate, and others as being unintentional. I certainly do not think my paedobaptist brethren are intentionally sinning in this. In fact, they even think that they are obeying God so, short of them changing their understanding of the Bible's teaching on this, I can't expect any "repentance," because they lovingly but firmly disagree with the Baptist understanding of this.

Nevertheless, as I understand the words of Christ in Matt. 28:18-20 Christians are commanded to baptize and to be baptized, and the practice of infant baptism inhibits the obedience of what I take to be a quite straightforward command. I understand explanations that have been given about the practice of infant baptism (Orthodox/Roman, Lutheran and Reformed) but am sincerely persuaded that none of them line up with God's own Word. This does not cause me to doubt the sincerity of my reformed paedobaptist brethren, nor even their judgment in general. It is simply that on this point they've got it wrong, and their error, involving as it does a requiring of something Scripture does not require (infant baptism), and the consequence of a denying of an action Scripture does require (believers baptism) is sinful (though unintentionally so).

I cannot do better than cite a Baptist minister from 150 years ago who made a similar point--J. L. Reynolds: "On the subject of infant baptism, and what seems to me to be its legitimate tendencies, I have recorded my sentiments without reserve, and, I trust, without offence. I impeach no man's motives; nor do I question the piety and sincerity of those of my Christian brethren who believe that the practice is sanctioned by divine command. Many pedobaptists are among the lights and ornaments of the age; their ministry has been blessed of God to the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom, and their Churches present numerous examples of pure and unaffected piety. Such men would not, knowingly, contravene the law of Christ. They would welcome the obloquy of the world, and even the agonies of martyrdom, in obedience to the command of their Lord and King, and rejoice that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ's sake. It is impossible not to admire and love men whose faith and practice associate them with Baxter, Leighton, Edwards, and Martyn, and who breathe their heavenly spirit. While I think I see and regret their errors, I would extend to them the same indulgence which I ask for my own," (Dever, ed., Polity, p. 328).

Of course, my paedobaptist brethren may very well think that I am in sin in withholding from children the sign of God's gracious covenant. I understand and regret the disagreement, but am well used to it by this point, and look forward to heaven, where all our disagreements will be composed. Until that time, I intend to encourage ministers to be Together for the Gospel as much as we can, working together in the extension of the Gospel in our own towns and cities, and around the world. I see no inconsistency in working with others who hold precious the same Gospel, regardless of what other disagreements we may have.

The City of Death - Iowa City, IA

By Zach Nielson

My friend Eric Schumacher writes about a sad statistic concerning my former hometown of Iowa City, IA:

The little college town of Iowa City boasts some big statistics.

Informed Choice of Iowa reports that of the 6,175 abortions performed in Iowa in 2005, almost 3,000 of those were in Iowa City. Kim Lehman, president of Iowa Right to Life points out that this puts Iowa City in the position of having the highest rate of abortions per capita in the US.

That comment led me to a short and admittedly unscientific study in per capita murder rates.

Last year, New Orleans was reported to lead the nation in per capita murders. (The population of New Orleans was 324,000. 179 murders were reported that same year.) They had 1 murder for every 1810 persons.

Iowa City's 2005 population was 62,887. Using just the estimate of abortions quoted above (3,000), excluding reported murders of born-persons, Iowa City had 1 murder for every 21 persons in 2005. (This compares to a national ratio of one abortion per every 245 born-persons.)

I'm not a statistician. This is an unscientific survey. There are likely errors. Nevertheless, the numbers are close to accurate...and staggering. In Iowa City, one person in the womb is killed for every twenty-one persons outside the womb.

If there were a city anywhere in the United States that saw one of every twenty-one born-persons murdered, the city would call for help. The story would be relentlessly covered by the news media. Martial law would be declared. Order would be restored.

When this rate reflects unborn persons slaughtered, they have a celebration.

HT: Take Your Vitamin Z

Why Satan fears small churches more than megachurches

By Tim Chester

Here's a quote from Organic Church (p 211-212) by Neil Cole. It's a story that made me cry when I first read it.

While doing some teaching in Japan, I had a dream that Heather, my daughter, started a church. In the dream, a room was full of young people who were all seriously worshiping God. When I returned from the trip, I mentioned it to her just to let her know that she was on my mind and in my dreams while I was away.

The next day she said, 'Dad, my friends all want to do it!' 'Do what?' I asked. 'Start a church.' I told her that she would have to do most of the work, and I would coach and lead only a little. She said that was fine. The next day she arranged a house to meet in, picked a night of the week, and found a worship leader; flyers were soon being passed out to friends on campus.

After the church had been meeting for several months, I met with these students and we all sang praises to the Lord. I felt the Lord's pleasure. I asked the students what was the biggest church they had ever been to. Living in Southern California there are many options of megachurches, and a number of churches were mentioned, ranging in size from two thousand attendees to more than fifteen thousand.

I then told them that I think Satan is more intimidated by this little church of fifteen high school kids than by any of those Godzilla-sized churches. They all sort of chuckled and looked around the room at one another with smiles.

I showed them why I thought this way: 'How many of you think you could start a church like one of those megachurches?' No one raised a hand. I asked, 'How many of you think you could start a church like this one?' and all raised their hands. I asked them to look around the room at all the raised hands, and I said with a new found soberness, 'I assure you, Satan is terrified by this.'

HT: The Elephant in the Room

When Your "Quiet Times" Get Stale

We all struggle with maintaining a rich, rewarding time with God each day. However, it is important to maintain this “discipline” even when we're not “feeling it,” because real growth happens by a “long obedience in the same direction,” not short spurts of inspiration and goose bumps.

Two books by D. A. Carson, For the Love of God vols 1-2, are excellent resources to help take you through the Bible. Carson, one of our country’s best theologians, gives you several passages to read and then his reflections on one of them.

I heartily recommend them as a "quiet time" guide. They also have a good scripture index in the back which makes them good as a quick reference commentary. Carson usually has some pretty amazing insights so be sure to check it out.

Here is a link to buy the book if you are interested. (Here)

Request a Complimentary Copy of Tortured for Christ

After surviving 14 years in communist prisons, Pastor Richard Wurmbrand came to America to proclaim the trials and testimonies of our persecuted brothers and sisters.

In Tortured for Christ, Wurmbrand tells of his imprisonment for his work with the underground church and introduces the work of The Voice of the Martyrs. Forty years later, The Voice of the Martyrs remains true to its calling to be a voice for persecuted Christians, to serve with them in their time of need and to assist them in their efforts to proclaim the gospel.

They are extending a special opportunity for you to request a complimentary copy of Tortured for Christ for yourself and your Christian friends, so that you can help them spread the message of today's persecuted church. Simply follow this link to get your copy of this great book.

Is your suffering just or unjust?

Just Suffering (sometimes you got it coming):

1. Adamic Suffering is common to all men as a result of the curse and our fallen condition (Gen. 3).
2. Consequential Suffering is a result of cause and effect; you reap what you sow (Prov. 22:8).
3. Punishment Suffering happens when God judges nonbelievers and punishes them for sin (Ex. 13:15).
4. Disciplinary Suffering occurs when God lets things happen to Christians in order to chasten them out of love (Heb. 12:7).

Unjust Suffering:

1. Victim Suffering is due to someone sinning against you.
2. Empathetic Suffering happens when someone you love is suffering.
3. Testimonial Suffering is meant to strengthen a Christian’s witness and prove their faith for the purpose of evangelism.
4. Vicarious Suffering is evil that is done to you simply because you are a follower of Christ.

Read more about the different kinds of suffering.

HT: Mars Hill Blog

Mars Hill/ Dateline Debate: Does Satan Exist?

Does Satan exist?

This question will be debated next Friday when ABC visits Mars Hill Church to record a “Face Off” debate for Nightline. The debate will then be aired as several segments on an upcoming broadcast of the news program.

Participating in the debate will be:

For the existence of Satan:
Pastor Mark Driscoll; founding pastor, Mars Hill Church
Annie Lobert; executive director, “Hookers for Jesus”

Against the existence of Satan:
Dr. Deepak Chopra; president, Alliance for a New Humanity
Bishop Carlton Pearson; author, “The Gospel of Inclusion”

Read more about the debate on the Nightline website.

Why Do You Exist? A Message From Dr. Fred Winters

Pastor Shot Dead in Pulpit

While preaching at his 8 a.m. service yesterday Pastor Fred Winters was shot dead in the pulpit of First Baptist Church of Maryville, Illinois. According to reports, he was shot three times and other shots may have been fired had the gun not apparently jammed. The assailant then pulled a knife and injured himself and other congregants until he was forcibly subdued. No motive has yet been determined.

A statement released by the church said, “Please pray for Dr. Winter’s family, our two brave members who were injured when they stopped the assailant, for the assailant himself and his family, and for our church members as they deal with this tragic loss. . . . To those who believe in the power of prayer, we covet your prayers right now.”

I have to admit that the thought of this sort of thing happening pops into my head each time I give a stranger a ride to church for the first time or to any number of places that I have offered to take someone when they enter our church looking for assistance. Normally the people I encounter are very nice and appreciate the help, but there have been a few that have caused me to wonder about my own safety.

Pastors by nature are typically quick to offer assistance to those in need, but I'm afraid that the horrible reality experienced by the congregation at First Baptist Church of Maryville is a reminder of what can happen if we're not careful. The Bible teaches that we ought to be innocent as doves when we care for others, but also wise as serpents when it comes to this world. Unfortunately, and please don't interpret this as a criticism of the church leaders or congregation at Dr. Winters' church, but we as pastors are much too dove like when it comes to thinking about church security and the safety of our congregations.

Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill Church has posted some important questions about church security that we all should consider in order to protect our church leaders and members - check it out and, please, be in prayer for the Winters' family and First Baptist Church.

John Piper: Are You a Church or a Club?

HT: Vitamin Z

Being a Reflective Practitioner in Ministry, Part 1

A common tendency of practitioners in most fields, especially those that are focused on helping people, which of course includes ministry, is to value action over reflection. In fact taking action, any action, is typically highly valued by most practitioners, while reflection is commonly considered a waste of time and effort. This is because most practitioners operate in a technical fashion; that is, they seek, typically without much thought (although they are often convinced of their own thoughtfulness), to push through the application of technical solutions to problems in order to help people or solve perceived problems as quickly as possible. The problem is that helping people is often associated with a great deal of complexity, variability, and uncertainty, which creates situations that cannot be adequately addressed by the simple application of technical solutions.

This way of being is mostly the result of training in institutions of higher education (particularly at the undergraduate and master degree levels), including seminaries, that largely pass on a technical-rational approach which emphasizes the taking of action almost exclusively over reflection. Theoretical positions are addressed, but mostly for the purpose of solving immediate "problems," rather than for the purpose of constructing new ideas or for learning how to create new solutions to problems as they are experienced.

How about a simple example? The technical-rational practitioner experiences a problem and seeks a solution to that problem. Most often this process involves seeking out and inserting a program designed to solve the specific problem being experienced. Once the program is in place, the task is simple; the problem presents itself, the person with the problem is introduced to the program, which progresses in a technical fashion, moving toward a desired solution. It's all very nice, neat, and effective, at least on the surface level. Action solves the problem. It's all about ends and outcomes with an agreed upon way of getting there.

This way of thinking creates several situations that I believe are ineffective and go against Biblical truth; many of which are deeply embedded in the church today. Let me offer three examples:

1. A tendency to focus on outcomes rather than on process. For example, if we're talking evangelism, the focus is on conversion and/ or eventual church attendance rather than on the process of sharing the gospel, developing relationships, and "seed-planting."

2. A view of leaders as 'experts' who hold exclusive technical knowledge and expertise. Within the context of ministry, this plays itself out in a belief that pastors have access to knowledge that is inaccessible to the average church-goer or member, and so decisions about what action to take are made in a top-down fashion with little or no meaningful input from the members of the congregation.

3. Problem-centered orientation to ministry. That is, different areas of ministry exist to solve specific problems and the idea that a specific ministry can have multiple dimensions, i.e., evangelism, discipleship, community, care-giving, is an almost completely ignored or unconsidered.

This tendency toward action limits the effectiveness of our ministries and creates a problem focused orientation toward being with others than robs our relationships from the kind of closeness needed to truly help bring about change (not to mention our ability to show others the love of Christ. Barriers are created between "experts" and those in reaching out to the church, church members are isolated from decision processes, and the church becomes a place where problems are addressed. None of these characteristics of many modern churches reflect the descriptions of the early church we find in the Bible.

In my next post I will seek to describe how we can be more reflective in ministry and seek to argue why doing so is Biblical.

Seperation of Church and Home?

We are considering bringing Stephen Smallman to our church for a parenting seminar this coming fall, but a new study by Lifeway suggests that parents may not be all that receptive to the idea of having an outsider (a nationally known speaker and author or even a pastor from their own church) provide parenting guidance or suggestions - and very few, even among those who consider themsleves to be Christian, look to the Bible as a guide for parenting.

Here's a little of what the study found:

Most American parents feel their parenting skills and family life are pretty good, but they are reluctant to describe their homes as peaceful, relaxed or joyful and their daily family time consists mostly of eating dinner and watching television, according to a new study from LifeWay Research. While most parents are trying to improve their skills, far fewer look to the church or the Bible for help.

Sixty percent of parents look a lot to their own experiences growing up as their source of guidance on parenting and another 31 percent do so to some extent. By comparison, 21 percent indicate they receive a lot of guidance from a sacred text and 15 percent depend a lot on a church. A full 61 percent completely ignore parenting seminars and 53 percent have no use for books by religious parenting experts.

Only 14 percent indicate they are very familiar with what the Bible has to say about parenting, the research revealed.

Read more here.

HT: Lifeway

40: The Story of Jesus' Journey Through the Desert

I used this slideshow with our junior highers tonight at church. I think it helped get the point across to our kids.

HT: maybe via Rethinking Youth Ministry