Youth Worker Boost – encouragement for youth workers
ym360 knows youth workers . . .
We know what an incredibly rewarding, yet incredibly challenging job youth ministry can be.
There are days when your spirits are sky-high, and there are days when you could use a bit of a “pick me up” from God’s Word . . .
That’s why we’re happy to introduce Youth Worker Boost, the newest feature on the ym360 Blog.
YWBoost is a short, weekly piece of encouragement designed to, well, “boost” your spirits and encourage you as you minister to students.
We consider it yet another great opportunity to serve you and your ministry.
Youth Worker Boost Archive
Progression
So how does a person live a blessed or happy life?
The Psalmist says the blessed person does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. This is less about our interactions with actual people, and more about our interactions with sin itself. Notice all three actions are in a progression.
I Didn’t Know That
In today’s passage we see Job readily admitting that he spoke about things to which he was “clueless.” Now, we don’t want to embrace this philosophy! 
But, it’s okay to be honest and tell students you don’t have all the answers. You may have heard before to tell students “I don’t know but I’ll get back to you.” But when you do this you miss a huge opportunity to encourage them to find the answers themselves. You could even help if the situation permits. In my experience, when you start trying to help a student find answers, you end up discovering some nugget about God and His character that will expand your perception of God.
Brokenness
Over all my years in ministry, the moments where I’ve seen students confess sin and really understand their brokenness before God have been unplanned, but not necessarily unexpected. We can’t know how God will reveal Himself in a student’s life. But we can set the table, so to speak for students to be primed for an encounter.
More Than A Little Warm
Are we as youth ministers going to be satisfied with just enough Jesus to help us keep doing our jobs? Or do we want the fire of spiritual devotion to move us to change the world?
Total Access
We have total access to God because of what Jesus did for us when He died on the cross. When the strains of being a youth worker threaten to bring you down, remind yourself that you are royalty! You’re a child of the Living God! You have access to the Creator of the Universe.
Confident Prayers
In today’s passage from 1 John, we see John painting a picture of a similar attitude when it comes to our prayer life. If we’re where we should be in our relationship with God, close to Him spiritually and in tune to His direction for our life, our desires line up with His will for us.
Listen Up
In the passage today, James reminds us that we should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. These are great words for those of us who work with students. Sometimes we are so interested in giving wise counsel to a teenager that we forget to listen to what they have to say. Talking comes very natural to most youth ministers. But listening is definitely an art.
Heartfelt Words
Never has it been so easy for words to get people in trouble than it is today. Thanks to texting and social media, whether it’s a quick vent or a deliberate slander, words posted are powerful things. As those who work with youth, we have to be diligent about how we think about this type of communication. But this isn’t a new issue . . .
Affirmation
So what do you do when a student tells you they feel the call to student ministry? Whenever I have a student explain to me that they feel called to ministry, I always encourage them to pursue their calling now, and not to wait. I also add another suggestion: Confirm the calling as best you can. Make sure you continue to pray and listen to God. The call to ministry can seem romantic in the eyes of our students. But we all know that the call to vocational ministry is full of high highs, and low lows.
Running The Race
The imagery in Hebrews 12:1 speaks to the idea of ridding ourselves of the distractions that get in the way of our pursuit of Christ. In our day to day life we get bogged down by the weight of quite a few things: schedule, family, work, culture, and of course, sin, among others. The weight of all of these can keep us from successfully running and/or finishing the race God has put before us.
To be an effective youth minister is to stay focused on the task of following God, uninhibited, each day.
Read more.
Living Your Teaching
These verses from Titus help remind us that what we teach students is important. But our actions are also important. Students are making judgments on faith based on the way they see us live our lives. It might not always be the most comforting thing to remember, but students are watching you. And me. And they are watching to see if our actions line up with our words.
Read more.
Chosen
To think that God chose me and you for the awesome responsibility of leading students closer to Him is sometimes overwhelming. And it’s not without it’s trials. In 2 Timothy 1:11-12 Paul pointed out that God chose him to preach, and that he was suffering for it. For every moment that things are awesome, it seems like there are those moments where we, too, suffer because of our calling.
Read more.
A Good Conscience
Every boat needs an anchor. Whether it’s a 50,000 pound anchor for a cruise ship or an old crow bar for a small fishing boat, the purpose is still the same. Every ship needs some type of weighted device to keep it from drifting aimlessly in the water or from being pushed around by high wind and/or waves.
So what does a good conscience have to do with an anchor? Glad you asked.
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Foundations
Most of us who minister to teenagers are still adding to the foundation of their faith. This looks a little different depending on the level of spiritual input their parents have been responsible for. But in some way, we’re helping them build a level of their base.
Paul was convinced he had laid the proper foundation. That foundation?
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I’ve Got A Secret
The word “secret” can mean a lot of different things.
Tell someone you have a secret surprise gift for them and the person will experience the joy of expectation. Tell a friend or loved one you have been keeping a secret from them, and the person will experience the fear of bad news. A secret told can lift you up, or bring you down.
Read more.
Imitators
Have you ever seen someone who’s really good at impersonations? If so, you quickly realize it’s not just the voice that these guys mimic. Those who do really great jobs of impersonating others are masters of picking up all the body motions and facial expressions of the person they’re imitating. It takes a lot of time and dedication to be a good imitator.
The question for us is how well are we at imitating?
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A New Start
As with many things in life, starting a project is always easier than completing it. Paul wanted the Corinthian Christians to be generous in helping the poorer congregations in Jerusalem and Judea. He applauded their enthusiasm to start sending help and urged them to finish the project they started a year earlier. It’s easy to see ourselves in the Corinthians.
Read more.
Fault Finders
In Ephesians 4:1-2, Paul takes a moment to give a bit of spiritual character adjustment in his letter to the church at Ephesus. And of course, this speaks to us today, as well. When you find yourself practicing “fault finding,” remember that you’re called by God to take on the character of Christ in all situations.
Read more.
Presence
The Bible is full of accounts of people building statues to false gods. Baal was a pagan god that showed up quite a bit in the Old Testament. We find out in the seventeenth chapter of Acts that the apostle Paul was shocked to see so many statues to idols in Athens, even one to “the Unknown god,” so the Athenians wouldn’t be offensive to a god they missed. These false idols were built not only to honor the gods, but to comfort followers with a symbol of its presence.
Read more.
Christmas Edition – Expectation
All through the Old Testament prophets like Isaiah spoke of the coming of a child who would be the Savior for God’s people. What great expectation the people had for this Savior! That expectation was realized in a stable in the city of Bethlehem when Mary gave birth to a child, Jesus. He was everything God promised.
Read more.
Reconciliation
Most youth ministers have a job description that outlines the scope and nature of the work that has be done as an employee of the church. Now, most all of us can identify quite a few tasks that we routinely undertake that aren’t specifically listed in our job descriptions. Maybe it’s hospital visits. Or maybe it’s mowing your church’s lawn! (We’re pretty sure cleaning up “who-knows-what-that-is” in the boys bathroom after your latest youth group meeting isn’t in there either.) Let’s face it: you do a lot more than is in your job description.
Have you ever seen RECONCILIATION listed in a job description?
Read more.
Separation Anxiety
Yet, Paul reminds us that there’s no separation anxiety when it comes to our relationship with our loving, Heavenly Father. Commentary writer Robert Jamieson summed up these verses best when he said; “No condition in this present life or none of the unknown possibilities in the life to come will be able to separate us from the love of God.” What an amazingly powerful promise from God’s Word!
Read more.
RX For A Healthy Youth Ministry
We all know that a healthy body requires good nutrition, a proper diet, and plenty of exercise. (Even if we don’t always follow through on it!)
Do you think there is a prescription for a healthy youth group?
Are you feeding your students a well balanced approach to the Word or are they getting a steady dose of junk food? Luke described what the early church considered a good spiritual diet and that consisted of:
I Am The Greatest
According to Jesus, the Kingdom of God is so radical in its ways that greatness is based on being a servant. To be number one, you had to actually have the desire to NOT be number one. The most valuable to God are those who are least valuable to the world. This response took the disciples by surprise. And if we’re honest? 2,000 years later, we still struggle with this.
Consumers Or Producers
Simply put, we are to be about the business of making disciples. Producers grow your church and your youth group while consumers drain energy and resources. As youth workers, we need to take a good long look at what we’re teaching and what we’re promoting to make sure disciple making is the engine that drives our youth ministry programs.
Instant Gratification
Be patient and wait with a spirit of expectation. One day the joy of a promise fulfilled will flood your soul! And it will be worth the wait.
A Perspective On Sin
Sin is a big topic when it comes to teaching and counseling teenagers. You don’t have to be perfect to teach on it. Just make sure you are correctly dealing with your sin before offering advice to other’s on how to deal with their sin.
You’re Not Alone
We know at times youth ministry can be a very lonely calling. But you need to be reminded that you’re never alone. God is constantly watching over you. From His vantage point on His holy hill, God never takes His eyes off of your situation.
Inside Out
You may be a great teacher but it is the inspired word of God that is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”
Hello Neighbor
The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of Jesus’ best known stories. A man walking the long, downhill road from Jerusalem to Jericho is attacked by bandits and left for dead. Both a priest and a Levite passed up the opportunity to help out the man.
But have you ever asked why?
Rental Faith
Like He did with Peter, Jesus is asking us if we know Him. This question may be the most important one we’ll ever answer.
The Source Of Our Strength
Stay near to God and your spiritual life will flourish. With God as your nutrient source, you’ll grow in ways you never could on your own.
Where Is God?
When life puts you at the end of a branch, so to speak, it is at that point that our only hope of enduring or surviving is God. Years after his work in Africa my missionary friend summed up his experience this way:
“You will never know God is all you need until God is all you have.”
Lonely
Ministry can be a very lonely vocation, especially student ministry. The hurts and stresses of the work can’t really be shared with church members and the concentration of time spent with teenagers isolates us from interactions with friends and peers.
So how can a youth minister overcome loneliness?
Read more.
Genuine
Genuine faith in our leaders is every bit as important now as it was 2,000 years ago. As a leader, how is your faith? Does your lifestyle, language, and interactions with others show the quality of having been influenced by Christ? Or, do you have the appearance of a Christ-follower, but not the substance?
Read more.
Worry
If we follow these simple guidelines and we are promised that God will send us the wonderful gift of His peace. Not only will God send us that peace but it will be there as a constant guard for our hearts and minds.
When worry invades your life, trust in the power of the peace of God to fill you and guard you.
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Accepting Correction
God disciplines us because He loves us. He corrects us because he wants us to be more like Him. And our attitude toward this discipline and correction should be to see it for what it is: the loving hand of a Father who cares deeply about our lives.
Read more.
I Am Weak, But He Is Strong
Have you ever asked God to take away some burden or difficulty in your life? The apostle Paul was not shy about asking God to take away his “thorn in the flesh.” How about you?
We all like to think we could serve God better without the distractions of problems. So, why is it that God seems to think otherwise?
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Building On A Solid Foundation
Jesus Christ is the foundation of our faith and should be the cornerstone of everything we do in student ministry. With this solid foundation in place, we can devote our attention to laying out a great floor-plan for students
Read more.
Winning?
Is a life filled with WINNING situations and free of TROUBLE really the path God has in mind for each of us?
Psalm 90 is a prayer of Moses. If you think back to Moses’ story, especially the part of how he lead the Israelites out of Egypt, you’ll recall he was familiar with tough times.
Read more.
Still Before God
A recent survey revealed that the average American teenager spends over nine hours a day plugged into some type of media or gaming device. Needless to say many teenagers have a hard time being still and or quiet.
But here’s the secret: so do many youth ministers.
Read more.
Charging Your Battery
We have God’s power as a constant in our lives. God will do His part to minister to our souls. But we have a role to play in making sure our batteries stay charged, as well.
Read more.
Celebrating The “Behind The Scenes” Students
A student who is outgoing, extremely talented, or maybe even a natural leader easily takes center stage in a youth group. It’s very easy to be drawn to that type of student and to give them a lot of your attention.
But what about the quiet, shy student who tends to sit in the back of the room and say very little in a group setting?
Read more.
Working Out For Good
God works through (and often in spite of) our circumstances to not only bring good for us, but to bring glory to Him and His Kingdom.
Read more.
Caring About Your Students
This may seem like a strange question but do you really care about your students? How do you express your love for them?
Read more.
Stepping Out Of Your Comfort Zone
Has God been calling you to a task that seems overwhelming based on the world’s understanding? Don’t be afraid to obey God and step out (maybe WAY out) in faith. God may be trying to get you out of your comfort zone and into His zone.
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The Overcomer On Your Side
But when the tough times come, we can know that Jesus understands our situation. Why? Because He not only lived in this world, He overcame this world.
Don’t let this world get you down. Remember, you have the OVERCOMER on your side.
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Why Is Life Unfair?
Life is not fair, not because God wanted it that way, but because that was our choice. But we do have a Heavenly Father who is always fair and just. He is preparing a place for us where, one day, the word “unfair” will be forever forgotten.
Read more.
A Shining Light
Your students desperately need to see you living out your faith, not only at church, but in your day-to-day life.
By letting your light shine, you might just be the encouragement your students need to be a spiritual light in their world.
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The Big Crowd
Your ability to minister, teach, and to have staying power in the world of youth ministry is directly related to the quiet times you spend alone with God.
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Living In The Now
We have today. And in “the now” we can minister, we can encourage, and we can act.
If you really want to see the beauty of God and what He can do, then be faithful to what He has called you to today.
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Change Agent
Don’t get too low when spiritual growth is slow. And don’t get too high when it’s going good. Most importantly, don’t forget that God is the real change agent in the lives of your students.
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