Youth Ministry

Lessons from a Mission trip: Everyone needs a site coach

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Group Mission trips, over the years have taught me many lessons about my faith and life. I learn from students, adults, and staff that I get the pleasure of serving with for the week. It is an intensive week of service that makes me slow down and listen to what God is doing in and around me. Over the next couple of weeks I am going to be writing about things I learned this year.

I want to tell you that this week challenged me in ways I haven’t experienced in a lot of years. I had the privilege of meeting and serving a wonderful resident named Ellen. She was a great faithful woman who had a hard time getting around. She needed a wheel chair ramp so she could get up and down to her home and bring in her groceries. So on Monday we went to work. Things were going well. We got the previous steps out of the way and ripped out bushes in less than 10 minutes. I had a student on my crew who was a hurricane of energy. I thought to myself, we will bust this thing out in a couple days. I was excited for an amazing week. Then Tuesday came. We started digging holes with the post hole digger because the auger hadn’t arrived yet. We dug for 5 hours to make our first 6 holes in hard clay. The Auger arrived (yeah) to finish the last 10. Wow I thought now we are moving. This is all going to be great. Two days of things going right.

Then Wednesday and Thursday happened. Many of the holes we had dug were not straight. I wasn’t paying enough attention to the details and well we had to pull out shovels and post hole diggers to get the holes lined up Wednesday. Thursday was probably the hardest day I have had on a worksite in my 17 years of Work Camps. We as a team made so many mistakes that the whole day was spent screwing in things and then removing them because we messed up. I removed and installed 12 lag bolts. Holes had to be moved again. one of the platforms moved and had to be put back. By the end of the day we had a broken post hole digger and I was beyond frustrated. I took my crew and another back and thought I will need to go back out so I can cement the last posts. Then it started raining, and I couldn’t go back out.

I was so broken that afternoon that I believed that this would be the first time is 17 years that I wouldn’t finish a project. Ellen this woman who I promised to build a ramp for would be let down. I was so frustrated I took it out on a few students who I yelled at over reacting to something they did and then went back to seek their forgiveness. It was a rough day.

The next morning I was getting breakfast and I saw my site coach. These are the red shirt people who are there to help you get your project done and figure out solutions. They are amazing people who go from site to site helping people problem solve. Jeff said to me “So did you get the posts cemented in?” I said “No we didn’t because of issues and rain, and I said their is no way we are going to get it done today.” That is when he did something that changed me this week. He looked me right in the eyes, and smiled, a smile I had seen all week. He said Steve I guarantee we will get it done today I promise you. It was what I needed in that moment. His confidence in what Jesus could do in this moment is what I needed to push with my crew and, another who would join us, and get it done.

For me in that moment Jeff was Jesus. He may never know it, but he had a profound impact on me this week. I don’t know about you, but maybe you are in a place where you feel you can’t keep going and everything you thought you know is falling apart. Maybe it is your marriage or your faith, or your job, or whatever, but you don’t think you can keep going. I pray God brings you a site coach to be Jesus in your life. A site coach like Jeff who walks along side you and picks you up in the hard days. We all need people in our lives who will be Jesus when we need them.

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” 4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus.

Romans 15:1-5 ESV

Why I do short term mission trips!

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I know some in the youth ministry world are against short term mission projects.  They say things like the people don’t need your help, or if you don’t have a long term relationship nothing really changes.  Going to some far off place is nice but you have needs in your community that should be served first. I have a different view on these types of trips.

About a week ago I spent 8 days with students, parents and 300 other kids I had never met before to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the community of Prince George, Virginia. This is my 12th week long mission trip as a leader. I did 4 as a high school student and one trip for 3 weeks in high school as well. I can say without a doubt I am a week long mission junkie.  I love it and honestly the couple of summers I didn’t get to do it my whole year felt off somehow.  You may be thinking how can one week of service really do that.

For the last 13 years I have gone on these trip through an organization called Group Mission trips.  They are a fantastic organization to work with mostly because they do two things really well.  First the work is all set up.  They screen residents, plan the jobs we will be doing, and provide directions for all the projects.  This is no small task.   I have never in 13 years had an issues with work not needing to be done or trivial.  We make a real difference in the lives of those people we come in contact with.  Second they help my students and I get out of our comfort zone through breaking us up into crews of kids we have never met before.  It is a brilliant system because if doesn’t just get you to meet other students. By taking you out of your comfort zone it helps students and adults to have confidence to get to know others in their own youth group.   I cant say enough about the system and what they do.

Lastly Mission trips like this put everything into perspective for me as a follower of Jesus.  You see when you get to know a resident for a week you get to know them and their life story if you are willing to listen.  You often hear stories of brokenness, death, and sin.  You meet people who have never had anyone to listen to them, people who have never heard anyone care for them for no other reason that this guy named Jesus.  It is truly a powerful experience.  These experiences help put life in perspective for me.  It helps me walk back into my community and have empathy for my neighbor.  They help me see all people as if they were Jesus.

So today as you walk around, take the time to hear your neighbor, hear the person who is next to you in line at the grocery story and care for them.  Ask how you can help.  Share about this Jesus guy who helps you get through this life.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Matthew 25:34-35 NIV

 

 

Generosity in the Church never ceases to amaze me.

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Over the 12 plus years I have been serving in ministry I have been amazed by many different peoples generosity.  This Sunday was one I really needed.  You see this past weekend I was sick.  I mean dog tired sick. I have run my body ragged between a trip to Disney, VBS, Hosting a day camp and strategic planning.  My body has literally been saying to me “Steve just STOP IT or else”.  I was sick all weekend and Sunday morning I just wanted to lay in bed.  I had been literally coughing all night and hadn’t slept except for about 2 hours from 8 AM-10 AM. I was miserable when I walked into St. John but I was there to help lead the service.  In all honesty I should have stayed home, but God had another plan.

To open the service I made a few announcements.  The most important one to me was a need we had for donations for a couple of our students who needed help to be able to attend the mission trip this summer. Throughout the service Jesus gave me the voice and allowed me to avoid coughing uncontrollable during the prayers and other parts I had to lead.  It was truly a miracle that I made it through the service. Praise God He is faithful to me and got me to the other side so I could see His great goodness. I am so glad I was there because I got to see Jesus move.

At the end of the service I had three people I come forward and ask what they could do to help.  One even wrote a check for the amount we needed for two of the students.  I was amazed.  I know I shouldn’t have been amazed but God brought those people forward to help reach a need for our young people.  I should never be surprised by the generosity of Gods people for His mission.  I am so glad Jesus brought me to that moment.  I got to see Him work.

Today as you may be feeling down, or tired, or broken be reminded that Jesus is continuing to work in the lives of His people. He is working to bring about His good and we are blessed often when we can see it. My prayer for you today is that you see Jesus work his miracles working in your lives.

Let us never grow tired of sharing Jesus

/ youthguysteve / Leave a comment

20160504_111210I am tired.  I have been busy these last few months.  I haven’t written a blog post is over 3 months. It has mostly been due to being busy and tired.  I often forget about how tiring ministry can be.  We can be  tired because we are overworked, or struggle to find purpose.  Most of all I think we are tired because we grow tired of sharing Jesus.  We forget our joy in sharing the story of Jesus and his forgiveness. We do this because we lose focus on what we are doing in ministry.

yesterday however was a fun and exciting day.  I am a Star Wars fan.  I really enjoy the fun of the light sabers and music, and the  wonder we see in those films.  I had the joy of leading chapel yesterday.  I handed out light sabers to the ushers at chapel and I had them play Star Wars music for chapel as the kids walked in the room.  It was a great moment watching many of the kids come into chapel excited to see what would be done today.  We of course didn’t put our primary focus on Star Wars.  We focused on Jesus.  We used Star Wars as a way to share Jesus with students.  We used light sabers to foscus kids on the light of the world.  We had so much fun as a group. What I noticed most today was the joy I had in sharing Jesus with kids.  Too often we forget about this joy because we are so focused on work to be done, or the projects to be completed.  We focus on the conflicts in our churches or the pain being caused to us by our sin.

Those things above don’t go away when have are good days but when we can focus on sharing Jesus we see God working in the lives of people we can have joy.  So let us instead focus on sharing Jesus.  Let us never grow tired of sharing Jesus.

For those of you who are reading this and aren’t full time ministers.  I would challenge you in your daily life, when you are feeling tired, to focus on the joy of sharing Jesus.  We all are busy with life but if you can focus your time on sharing Jesus in our work, family and daily lives we can find joy. We may be tired today but let us all never grow tired of sharing Jesus with everyone we meet.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:29-31 NIV