So far, Day 2 has been nothing short of splendid!
This morning all 35 of us met at our meeting spot in the main auditorium to sit together for the second main rally. (getting 29 teens and 6 adults to get anywhere on the same time is pretty miraculous!)
This morning Marilyn Lazslo, a former missionary to Papua New Guinea where she translated for Wycliff gave her gut-wrenching account of just how powerful God’s Word is. Teens had an opportunity to make a commitment to God to be used by Him in ANY fashion to spread the Good News presented in the Bible. It was a powerful message and one that made an impressive impression on my own “calling” to be in the ministry.
After the main rally we enjoyed lunch and then two “breakout sessions”.
Jess and I went to the same breakout sessions.
#1 – Brad Zimmerman (brother of Benji, whom I went to IWU with) who owns a production company – “Vinmark Productions” and works on staff at a church doing multi-media. He gave us some great details on media in ministry as well as some helpful links to websites that will be beneficial!
#2 – Gary Schnepp (senior pastor of Faith Wesleyan in Cheektowaga, NY) spoke on what was supposed to be entitled, “How to recruit & build a team” – but turned into a VERY helpful reminder that WE as pastors and youth leaders are empowered by the God of the universe to act on the “Royal Heritage” we have been given as ministers of the Gospel. He reminded us of our need to take care of ourselves – NOT ministering 24/7/365, to eat correctly, and gave us a humorous, yet SERIOUS look at the “12 Commandments of Youth Ministry” if you want to TANK (“tank” not “thank”) your youth ministry:
The 12 Commandments (reprinted WITHOUT permission – Gary, if you want these removed, please tell me!)
01. Wipe out incentives.
02. Depend on only a few students.
03. Don’t ever commend your students.
04. Reprimand your students for their weaknesses.
05. It’s only right that everyone conforms to YOUR WAY of thinking.
06. Never attempt to develop morale or “team spirit” among your students and adult leadership.
07. Never ever spend time with them for personal development.
08. Betray their confidence.
09. Set up an espionage system for spying on them.
10. Blame your lack of leadership on your students.
11. Make Christianity a religion of “rules” and for old fogies.
12. Most important, be grumpy in their presence all the time.
His hand-out obviously went into detail on these “12 Commandments”, but I’ll save those details for my own use.
In about 20-minutes I’m heading back over to the convention center for some dinner and a chance to relax before the evening rally.
Tonight after the evening rally, one of our students, Jared, won a game this morning and won the opportunity to go back-stage and meet the band, Kutless! How cool is that? He also got to hit a hole-in-one in front of 2,500 of his peers! You would’ve been a proud youth pastor had he been one of yours! You should’ve heard the rest of our group cheering for him from our seats!
