We recently celebrated the 5th grade milestone at Colonial and I had the opportunity to be there and celebrate these students, encouraging them to join CRASH next year. First things first: I am clearly not a parent. However, through studying childhood development and my past 5 years on staff, I came up with 3 suggestions I would offer parents to encourage faith in their tweens (11-13 year olds). But believe me I’m aware I’m not telling you anything you parents don’t already know.

Tweens are just beginning to enter in to the cognitive development stage called Formal Operational. And what that means is they are beginning to develop abstract thoughts and reasoning. So they are moving away from their childhood faith of WHAT do I believe, into their teenage faith of WHY should I believe? And as a parent I believe there are 3 things you can do to help your children answer that question, WHY should I believe.

The first, consistency. Make going to church a habit as much as you can in your busy lives. If your child grows up going to church as the norm for your family, then that not only implies priority but it becomes their routine. And the longer you can develop this habit as your children get older, studies show the more likely it will be that they will maintain this habit when they move out on their own, simply because it’s their normal routine.

Second, tweens have an incredibly difficult time expressing their faith. You as parents can help your teens form those skills to articulate their faith when you can be specific and tell your kids what you believe and why. You don’t need to be a theological expert, just practice bringing God up in normal conversation. You can share stories from your life when you encountered God. Why do you read the Bible? Why does God care about the music you listen to in the car? When has God answered your prayers? How do you know Jesus loves you’re Your children need to see how faith is a part of their every day life, and who better to teach them than the people who are with them every day. When you talk about your faith to your children, they begin to develop the tools to imitate that process with their own faith.

The third thought I’d like to offer you is this, let your children experience the faith you talk about. For example, if service is a big part of your faith, allow your child to determine a family service project they are interested in. If musical worship is a big part of your faith than introduce them to some of your favorite songs next time you are in the car. If reading scripture speaks clearly to you, spend some time opening up your Bible together. In creative ways, demonstrate to your children how you live faithfully. . in big and little ways, those moments will become sacred memories of times when God showed up.

And that is what we hope to support you in at CRASH. We love creating mountaintop moments for your children to encounter God like Pyro 2 for example, but we know how much more significant faith development is when children experience God alongside their parents. Myself and my leadership team know what a privilege it is for you to trust us with your children each week. Our ultimate goal is to carry on what you are doing at home. We love teaming up with you as your child begins answering the question, why should I believe? Thank you for allowing us to be on your team.

-Nicole

In the fall of 2004 The Gallup Organization was commissioned to survey who felt “very satisfied” with their youth group. What do you suppose was the greatest identifier of whether a teenager was a “very satisfied” youth group attender?

It was “friendliness.”

An overwhelming 86% who felt their youth group experience was very satisfying said their youth group was a very friendly place. Because of the perceived friendliness, they felt loved and accepted and experienced a deeper sense of belonging.

Healthy friendships build you up and draw you closer to God; unhealthy friendships bring you down and cause you to compromise what you know is right. Your friends help determine the direction and quality of your life!

As youth leaders, we commit to working hard to make youth group an environment that is a comfortable place to invite guests. But guests won’t return for a second visit unless they experience real friendships among their peers. Ultimately, the level of friendliness within a youth group is determined by the youth themselves!

Well, we all know that among youth culture cliques are the norm. In order to foster friendships within the youth group we work hard to break down those cliques.

• We work hard to get to know students interests so we can introduce them to other students who have those same interests, creating an “affinity group” to gather around. For example: basketball lovers, musicians, Hunger Games fans (actually, that’s just about all of them).
• We are intentional about offering a “quick plug-in.” Students need not “apply” or jump through hoops to join us at youth group. They are welcomed into small groups right away.
• Students (and leaders) are encouraged to get together outside of regular Wednesday times. In fact, we’ll occasionally program in these “spontaneous” hang-out times, like one of our “Man-fests” for instance.
• Gossip, slander and jealousy are not tolerated. We have a zero tolerance policy for our adult leaders so that it is modeled and leaders aren’t shy about calling it out if they see it in students. Gossip, slander and jealosy are the viruses which infect teenage friendships (well, all relationships!). This must be modeled from the top down.
• Students are habitually encouraged and praised by caring adults to step “outside of their comfort zone.”
• Our leadership team works to model healthy friendships outside of youth group. You must practice what you preach.
• Adult leaders in the youth ministry will commit to speaking to three or more kids individually each week to tell them something good that was noticed about them that week (a good question, a great catch, a sincere prayer, and so on). And also to ask them in small groups to give us something specific we can pray about for them.

The prayer is that more students will be infected with a passion for friendship-building, modeled from the top down. It will be contagious friendliness that then can influence the culture of the youth group from the bottom up.

Another finding from The Gallup Organization was that those who thought their group to be friendly was that they experienced spiritual transformation. If students are drawn to a youth ministry’s friendship climate, they’ll likely grow spiritually for at least two reasons:

1. First, if they’re not very alive spiritually, they’ll be exposed to spiritual role models and biblical teaching.
2. Second, since the Christian life is meant to be lived in community, they’ll experience the joy of connection to like-minded peers who support their spiritual journey.

I just sent a first time visitor a follow-up text. He replied, “Oh thanks a lot! It was a lot of fun being there. Good welcoming environment!” It is text messages like that that remind us that our youth leaders are doing their jobs and makes everything worth it.

It’s a big week in the sporting world with Kentucky wrapping up the Final Four, and the Masters and Opening Day beginning later this week.

This made me think about sports in youth ministry, but more specifically games, and why we play games.

Below are 4 reasons that Nicole and I hold in common:

1. Games are an ideal entry-level activity for new students because fun and playing is universal. To have a sense of fun and playfulness in youth ministry is critical if you want to engage and welcome new students.

2. Games build community, acceptance and belonging. Shared experiences become shared memories. At CRASH we only play games that are inclusive. This means that anyone can do the tasks and participate.  You don’t need any special skills or be a world class athlete.

Unfortunately, a lot of the joy of games has disappeared with competitive sports being more and more prevalent, squeezing out intramural or club league sports.  The extremely talented play those, while the rest of us watch. Games need to be played by all,
not just observed!  This is a value of our youth ministry at Colonial.

3. Students need a connection point because many of today’s activities are solitary experiences: computer, TV, video games, etc. But that can limit character development that comes through face-to-face social interactions. Games can promote interdependence, learning how to work together as a team toward one goal.

4. Games are used to break down social barriers that students put up out of their pure awkwardness or social inexperience. This can prohibits new relationships to blossom or deeper relationships to grow. To laugh and play together helps break down these barriers in a way that words only can’t!

5. God is the one who created laughter, so when we experience joy and laughter together in community, I believe we are reflecting the nature of our Creator.

I couldn’t stop at 4, so at the risk of making the title be even more nonsensical and obscure I pressed forward with #5. Enjoy!

At youth group we’ve played a “life sized” version of Connect Four where 70 jr. high students competed boys versus girls. At Collision (high school youth group) a favorite is has always been Four on a Couch that can get rowdy because it involves memorizing names. We’ve also modified Four Square – the old playground favorite– into 9 Square so we can include more students.

Games are an important part of youth ministry for the four five reasons listed above, plus many, many more. Besides, they’re fun.

Andrew Zhao has been interning with the youth ministry for several months now. Andrew is getting his Masters of Divinity degree from Bethel University with a focus in youth ministry. I felt like it was important for Andrew to share in his owns words some of what the experience has meant to him thus far. (Fun fact: this Summer Andrew joined with 4 friends to ride their bikes across the country.)

My Internship
What I have really enjoyed about my internship is the opportunity to be exposed to working in a church environment and its culture, organizational aspects, community, and, of course, the youth ministry. It’s been a great holistic experience that I’ve greatly appreciated since my previous experience working with youth has mainly comprised of a camp setting.

At this point, I come into Colonial three times a week. I spend most of my time with Brian as we do the planning and preparation for Wednesday night’s youth group and this consists of outlining teaching lessons, coming up with fun games that help with teambuilding and connecting the kids to one another, small group questions, and just general logistics as it deals with program flow and supplies. Overall, one of the things I have to constantly be mindful of is how our activities are connecting with the kids and if our programs and agendas are faithful to our objectives and values as a youth ministry.

There are also times when Brian gives me more ownership and responsibility and I’ve taught about 5 times now. I once planned an entire evening’s programming as we did a special Water Project Night, where the students were able to learn facts about the water problem in poorer countries and experience some of it themselves through simulation stations like walking a certain distance with full buckets of water or an economy exercise to see how much things are worth relatively for us and for other countries.

I help out with field trips (we went to Impact Lives one night), retreats (we went to Covenant Pines as a confirmation group and junior high group), and other events (junior high guys night out, leaders bowling trip, etc.). My experience has also consisted of much more than just “work” stuff. I come in every other week or so and play volleyball and basketball with some of the other leaders and some of the kids. I get to develop relationships with a lot of the guys and talk about music, sports, dating, and other life stuff, which I’ve appreciated.

Being able to see how the youth ministry interacts and engages with the other ministries is helpful as well. We share some supplies and some spaces (closets/gym, etc.) with them and it’s important to be mindful of other groups when we’re trying to accomplish our goals and purposes.

Connecting with the Students
The greatest thing about ministry is the ability and opportunity to connect with people. While planning, organizing, facilitating, and teaching are important and essential responsibilities for any youth ministry leader, the commitment to relationships is key both with other leaders and with the students.

For me, as the Colonial Church Youth intern, it starts with Brian Jones and Nicole Lindsay. I’ve been able to watch and work with them as they’ve created meaningful environments that communicate Jesus and God’s love week in and week out. It’s also been great seeing Nicole interact with her dad here at church and Brian with Danielle, Campbell, and Charlotte. Church is family and is made up of families.

Next comes the pleasure of developing relationships with the other youth group volunteer leaders. It’s always encouraging to see people take the time to invest in these students and commit to being a part of their lives. I get to see them engage with the kids weekly and also have the opportunity to lead worship with a few of them during the high school youth group. I also lead a small group of 10^th grade high school boys with one of the leaders, Christian, and that has been one of my highlights as an intern.

My role and experience in that group really epitomizes for me the importance and life-giving nature of youth ministry. On any given Wednesday night, our small group attendance can range from 3-9 guys and they mainly come from Edina High School, so they see each other multiple times a week. However, because they attend Colonial Church together, they are able to have a deeper connection and relationship that goes beyond just being classmates. Most of them went through confirmation at the same time and through youth group, have been able to serve, learn, and grow together.

It’s exciting for me to see these guys in a stage of their lives where they are continuing to understand and embrace who they are all while living in fellowship and learning about God’s character. I love how each guy is so unique and brings his interests and personality to our small group. As an intern, an aspiring youth pastor, and a friend, I am able to care for these guys and walk alongside them as they journey through life seeking for purpose, relationships, answers, hope and love.

Andrew

Valentine’s day is a week away. And naturally at CRASH, for the next two weeks we will take full advantage of this calendar holiday to talk about dating.

For middle schoolers, navigating the world of dating can be a huge challenge. There are so many voices surrounding them telling them what to think, feel and believe about love, dating and sexuality. But if recent research is correct in showing how young people reflect the values of their parents, then be encouraged that parents, you have a strong voice here. Your students listen to you and they want to hear from you. Especially about their new favorite topic: the opposite sex.

At some point, likely in the middle school years, your student will begin the delicate life phase of puberty. Those preteen and early teen years will bring about a sudden interest in the opposite sex, and if that freaks you out, you’re not alone. It’s likely that your students won’t know what to think about this newfound interest either!

Our challenge as the church, as adults and parents, is to counter their expectation that we will default to NO regarding this topic. We need to surprise them by affirming that YES, we actually think love, dating, and sex are all pretty great…within moderation intended to honor the value of each person involved.

The truth of the matter is, sexuality is just a part of our human existence. We can’t limit our influence to lowering the value of sex or sexuality so that young people won’t do it. But instead, let us aim to deepen the value of each student as a child of God, so that young people will feel confident in choosing not to rush or misuse this gift from God.

Here are some ideas on where to start:

Have “the talk”… often. It’s awkward, it just is. But by beginning this ongoing conversation you will show your student that you are a safe source of knowledge.

Choose to be an active listener. And then, just listen. You might ask questions like, “Are any of your friends dating?” “What kind of boy/girl are you looking for?” “Is dating important to you?” By continuing to ask questions, you approach the topic in a non-threatening way and your student may even choose one to open up on.

Keep track of their relationships/friendships. Ask students who they spend time with, meet their friends, and know their friend’s curfews.

Use movies, television, and music as an entryway. As you well know, sex is everywhere in media today, but we can use these powerful influencers as tools to begin talking to our young people.

Assist your student in determining appropriate boundaries. Talk with other parents about curfews and expectations regarding appropriate ages to date, etc. Learn from parents who have been there already.

Model your family values through behavior. As you already know and the research verifies, you as parents or key adults in your child’s life, have the largest influence on young people today.
So parents, stepparents, adopted parents, grandparents… keep up the good work!

And of course, I’m always available to talk more about this if you are interested.
-Nicole

Post influenced by D. Scott Miller
Slant33.com

On Wednesday, January 25^th, students and adult leaders from Collision and Confo visited the non-profit organization – Impact Lives – in St. Louis Park to learn about world poverty and hunger and to help pack meals for those very same folks. Through service learning and community partnerships, Impact Lives seeks to train and equip people to create sustainable change globally and to provide short-term relief for those in need. Their self-professed goal is to “transform the lives of people locally and around the world by providing leadership training, expanded self-awareness and cross-cultural humanitarian experiences.”

Our group got to tour through an exhibit that portrayed conditions in places like Haiti and India. We learned about poor hospital conditions, the difficulties in getting water, orphanages, hunger, sex trade, and the disproportionate distribution of wealth and resources on our planet. Our problems when compared to these travesties were really put into perspective. Students and adults alike left with a stronger awareness of global poverty, an appreciation of what we have, and a conviction to help and live differently.

We divided into five teams and packed meal bags that were filled with vegetables, vitamins, soy, and rice. Groups created assembly lines that divvied up the various tasks of scooping, weighing, sealing, and packing. With each box holding 36 400 gram bags of food, the group from Colonial was able to fill over 20 boxes.

The overall experience was a good one for everyone involved. The high school group did a Water Project night back in November, where they were able to learn about unclean water facts in other countries, do simulations to understand what it was like to have to gather their own water, calculate their daily water usage, and have the opportunity to share what they’d learned. We also spent a couple of months collecting money that we were able to give to the folks at Impact Lives.

Visit the youth Facebook page for some photos of the event.

I have said before that I see my mission here at Colonial in very simple terms: I am to love God, love teenagers, and find other adults who do those things as well.

A strong team of adults who pour their lives into students is the backbone of a healthy youth ministry. In fact, the size and health of a youth ministry is directly proportional to the number of adults invested in the program.

Let’s look at two scenarios:

A. A lone youth worker is in a room with 40 jr. high students or

B. A youth worker invests in 10 adults who love God and love teenagers, and equips and encourages those volunteer leaders to minister to those same 40 jr. high students.

Which is the healthier environment for students to encounter Christ? In which environment do students feel most loved and cared for? In which environment are students more likely to invite their friends? In which environment is the youth worker less likely to question is sanity and life choices?

I hope for each of those questions you immediately answered B, the environment where there is a strong team of adults investing in students! Needless to say, we value the adults (and student leaders) who invest in Colonial’s youth program and we wanted you to know that it is these volunteers who are responsible for the great youth ministry we have at Colonial.

Malcolm Gladwell published a post in the New Yorker about the differences between ketchup and mustard. I encourage you to read the entire article. It’s great. But I’ll sum it up quickly and tell you how it relates to the youth ministry here at Colonial Church.

Put simply, there are a variety of mustard tastes but just one ketchup to rule them all – Heinz. While classic yellow mustard is still popular, you can also get your hands on a variety Dijon mustards, honey mustards, and more, in a wide variety of flavors and textures, and you choose your mustard according to your mood. I think we have 4 types/flavors in our fridge at home.

Seeing that there was money made in differentiating mustard the same was tried with Ketchup. Chunky varieties were made (Why not just use salsa?), smokey flavors were created (How is that different from BBQ sauce?), and other experimental flavors were rolled out with marketing clout. They are flopped miserably.

The reason? Heinz ketchup is considered a perfect food. There are professional food tasters that are so skilled they get upwards of a million dollars a year. These tasters meticulously rate foods in a ridiculous numbers of categories in flavor, texture, smell, aftertaste, and on and on it goes. Heinz ketchup was one of the very rare foods that was found to be perfect. All the individual ingredients in Heinz ketchup blend together in such as way that it’s impossible to improve it, much less think about spinning off a Dijon variety.

But there is one problem. While Heinz ketchup is a perfect food, only 70% of people like it. It’s not that they don’t like Heinz, they don’t like ketchup, period. Ask Nicole if she likes condiments – she’s part of the 30% who are totally ketchup free.

Hang in there, we’re getting to how ketchup and mustard relate to the youth ministry at Colonial.

We live in a culture that is very individualized and accustomed to finding solutions are tailored specifically to them. You don’t want ketchup on your Whopper? Fine. Have it your way. This mindset can influence – fairly so – the structure and planning of a ministry as well. It seems reasonable to tailor the ministry to fit specific habits of individuals. Wednesday evenings not work for you? Fine. We’ll start a special ministry program for you on Thursday mornings. That doesn’t work for you? OK, how about something tailored to you and a Monday evening? Oh, doesnt doesn’t work for you? Well…it could go on and on until we have 50 different varieties of ministry mustard.

The youth ministry at Colonial seeks to be Heinz ketchup. While the different personalities and skills of our leadership teams allow us to connect with students in a variety of ways (Maybe by grabbing a burger with them, topped with both ketchup and mustard?) our primary worship and gathering times are designed strictly to the ketchup principle.

Youth on Wednesday evenings – Crash for Jr. Highers and Collision for High schoolers – is programmed to reach as broad an audience as possible. We try to blend the elements in such a way that we have a perfect blend of worship, community, teaching, play, and memory making.

In fact, that we try so hard not to be mustard is the reason that it works so well as ketchup. The programming we sometimes have to say ‘no’ to helps us live to our values. I could give you two dozen reasons, but I’ll share the top 4:

1. We value community. To be ketchup insures that we meet together in larger groups, interact with one another, and get to know others. Before we break into small groups, we’ve had a large group community experience.
2. We value worship. I was chatting with a student a couple years back and she said that Colonial had the reputation of being the Jesus(y) youth group in town. Hmmm. I’ll take that as a compliment! We can be the Jesus(y) youth group because of collective worship. Too be too fragmented breaks that down because the relationships become too self-focused.
3. We value volunteer leadership. The youth ministry at Colonial absolutely could not exist without the 25+ leaders we have engaged on a weekly basis, both on Wednesday evenings and throughout the week connecting individually with students. Being ketchup on Wednesdays allows us to “pool” our people resources in a way that brings energy and enthusiasm.
4. We value fun. Our big, ketchup youth group is a lot of fun. It brings energy and carries huge momentum week-to-week, which in turn leads to depth as we flip back to number one on this list.

We can actually support our values by not becoming too fragmented. The downside, obviously, is that ketchup isn’t for every student. While we try to cast a net as wide as possible we realize that there will be certain students that just need something we can’t offer. We’re OK with that because we know there are some other super churches in town and by maintaining our focus we can help create something great on Wednesdays for the 70% of ketchup loving teenagers out there.

Yes, this whole post will be about t-shirts. I love youth group t-shirts. I have a vast collection over the years including 4 CRASH team t-shirts from last year.

When students come to CRASH they are immediately placed on one of four teams. These teams are made up of both genders and different grades, with leaders as team captains. Teams are entirely open meaning that any new student can hop right in. These teams are part of a year-long competition, ending with one team being crowned as the year’s champion.

Last year the Danceformers won the first CRASH Championship Trophy. Teams get points when they win the gym games, wear their color and the most points when they bring new friends. Of course, they also get points for wearing their team t-shirts.

The teams this year are Denim Venom, Hip Hop Opotamus, Krazy Krabs and The Illgrims. Random and silly I know.

The Team Captains came up with the names, colors and t-shirt designs this past summer at our leadership retreat. T-shirts will be on sale in early February and are completely optional for your students. They will be $10.

I’ll end with 3 good reasons why you might want to consider buying a t-shirt.

1. They look awesome. Seriously.
2. These teams represent 1 of 3 places to belong at CRASH. You belong to the whole CRASH community when you come. You belong to your small group made up of the same grade and same gender students. And you belong to your team where you play hard and create unity.
3. When students wear these t-shirts outside the walls of Colonial, other students ask them about their awesome shirts and this provides an easy way for students to invite their friends to come experience CRASH and the opportunity to even share a little about their faith with their friends!                                              –Nicole

This March can’t come soon enough because of our March 9-11 CRASH and Confirmation combined retreat! So logically, we named it the Confrash Retreat.

All students in grades 6-9 are invited to leave behind the stresses of daily life and encounter God at Covenant Pines Bible Camp. We will leave Friday the 9th, early evening, returning Sunday the 11th in the afternoon and – believe me – we will cram just about all we can into this time together.

From worshipping God through music, playing games in the snow (or whatever wonderful March weather we have in McGregor, MN), and deepening the relationships in our youth group community. The Confo class and CRASH will have separate learning times appropriate for each group, but the rest of the weekend will be spent together, growing in Christ and growing in our relationship with one another.

CRASH parents register your students BEFORE February 1st and save $25! Confirmation students will have a separate registration link sent out by email.                      –Nicole

One thing I love to do is ask students about their friends, for several reasons. One, if you want to get a student to talk you ask them about their friends. They’ll yap away. Plus, I can also get insight into their life and the quality of their peer group, without them feeling like I am prying into their lives.

I always ask them where their friends are plugged into church and I obviously encourage them to bring their friends with them to Colonial if they aren’t plugged in anywhere else.

I’ll also talk with students to give them an invite to events, such as a retreat or service project. Sometimes I’ll get a response like, “I’m probably not going because I don’t know anyone.”

I tell you these things because we work very hard to make youth group be a comfortable and inviting place. A place can be crazy welcoming, but there is still no substitute for an invitation and a ride from a friend. For this reason we try to instill into students that’s it’s a great thing that they invite friends to come with them to youth group. On our end, we promise to make them feel welcome.

We try to make it fun as well. In Crash we give a gift to every student when it’s there first time at youth group – a can of Pork and Beans. The kids think it’s funny, plus we remind them all that they are high in fiber. That gets a chuckle. The students are legitimately bummed if there is a week that we don’t get to give out Pork and Beans.

In Collision the students are a little older so we give them a choice. We call it “Take the Car or Take the Shot.” If they take the car they get a matchbox car to take home with them, no strings attached. If they choose the “Impossible Shot” then they get a chance to shoot a ball through a tiny hoop we have mounted in the Pond Room and if they make it, they get everything that’s in our big prize box. Every week that the Impossible Shot isn’t made we add more items to the prize box. They don’t call it the Impossible Shot for nothing and the prize box is heaping over. If somebody does make that shot one day, the Pond Room will go NUTS.

We think a healthy youth group is one where kids are coming to know Jesus and inviting their friends to do likewise, so we want to make it as fun as possible to bring friends.

We register for all youth events online. It’s 2012 and we’re pretty confident the internet will stick around for a while. Plus, it’s crazy convenient to be able to register from home, whenever you think of it. Plus, it cuts down the paperwork on our end 10–fold.

I do want to share with you a unenforced policy we’ve had, which is that registration for events turns off 24 hours prior to the start of the event.

It’s not uncommon for families to register as close as 10 minutes before an event or equally common for folks to just show up without registering. Both Nicole and I are “big tent” kinda folk. The more kids, the better. We want everyone to be able to come to things, and we genuinely aren’t frustrated when kids just show up for things as we’re happy to see them.

So our policy of registering for events at least 24 hours ahead of time will in all likelihood never be enforced, because we don’t want anyone to feel like they are turned away. I can’t over-state this.

But even as we won’t enforce this policy, I would ask you to do us an act of kindness and please do register at least 24 hours prior to events, as it helps in a variety of ways:

1. It’s Friendlier. If everyone is registered ahead of time we spend less time taking checks and filling out paperwork as folks trickle into the event, and more time greeting students. Less last minute paperwork equals more time for us to be with kids.

2. We don’t have to call audibles. We plan and program specifically for the number of students registered for an event. If we have a large numbers of walk-ins it often means that something we had prepared just won’t work as well, meaning we quickly have to scramble to Plan B. I’ve done this so long that this doesn’t bother me in the least, but it can mean that students don’t get our Plan A, and we want our programming to be the best it can be.

3. It keeps costs down. Obviously, we’ve shopped for supplies well before an event has started. If we add a 10% overage to our numbers it won’t swing costs too severely, but if there is a pattern of over purchasing in order to accommodate last minute registrations and walk-ins, we’ll too frequently lose money on an event. We want to keep our costs fair and low for you. Everyone registering early helps with costs.

There are more reasons why early registration is helpful to us, but I’ll leave you with those. Again, it’s not in our nature to turn anyone away, but we do ask that you’ll register your teenager early – and often – because we love to see them.

In Collision (HS youth group) we had a teaching series called “God Tweets” during the month of December. You could think of it as Twitter meets the Christmas story.

It’s pretty interesting to think about what the time that Jesus was born into would’ve looked like with social media. This video is actually really fun, imagining the Virgin Mary announcing her pregnancy on Facebook.

Two took two verses from the Christmas story (that were both fewer than 140 characters of course!) and looked at what they mean for teenagers today.

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means, “God with us.” #GodTweets #Matthew1:23

Yes, I see it now: I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say. #GodTweets #Luke1:38

We also encouraged the teenagers to send tweets during the youth talk. They would comment on what they heard as I was saying it, and would upload it immediately from their phones to twitter, using the #GodTweets hashtag. Instead of asking them to put their phones away during the message we thought we’d try and direct it toward a different means of interaction.

We had a good time thinking about the Christmas story in a new way and the students did a good job with their tweets. I’ll share some of those with you now and you can always follow Colonial on twitter to get both news about programs at Colonial, as well as a window into some of the ministries, such as Collision.

Follow what I’ve called you to. I’ve made you a certain way. I love you deeply. #GodTweets

You make beautiful things out of the dust. #bestsong #GodTweets

O come let us adore him #GodTweets

Love me with your mind body and soul! Also, love one another well. Don’t worry, I’ll send my Son to remind you. #GodTweets

The Christmas story demands a response. How will we respond? #GodTweets

Your life changes when you let Jesus into your life. #GodTweets

A savior is born! #GodTweets

It’s not about the presents it’s about the presence. #GodTweets

Don’t get caught in the stresses, always remember the message. #GodTweets

Christmas is not about presents and lights, it’s about seeing Jesus in a way that changes your heart. #GodTweets

We work really hard to create a particular “feel” for the youth ministry, one that is uniquely suited for students.

By creating a particular feel I mean that we want youth group to be a place that feels safe, accepting, comforting, and fun. Creating fun, positive memories, building relationships, providing a safe place to ask questions and process doubts, and surrounding students with caring adults are critical elements of an effective youth ministry. The atmosphere of a ministry, the way it feels is important.

Don’t you want to be a part of a community like that? Don’t we all need to be part of a community like that? I’ll take a double helping, thank you very much.

Content is important too. We also want to create lots of opportunity for experience learning. We want strong Biblical teaching and a commitment to forward faith movement, so that teenagers will grow in Christ and develop a passion to serve the world.

But content is the topic of another blog post. For now, we hope that students can feel the love.

‘Tis the season for silly Christmas pictures.  Have a Merry Christmas and come sledding with us any time!

It is evident at Colonial that the congregation wants a healthy youth ministry. The evidence of this is in the countless conversations, words of support, lunch meetings, staff involvement, and the willingness of parents and others to offer hands-on service. It’s exciting when it’s known that a church places such a high value on youth and desires that a healthy youth ministry be in place.

But a potential issue can arise out of this. What if there are several different ideas on how to define a healthy youth ministry? Some define a healthy youth ministry in terms of numbers, making the primary identifier of health be a head count. Others may define success by the volume of programming. With that a healthy youth ministry is identified by the number of activities offered or variety of programs offered. Others have their own unique expectations in identifying a healthy youth ministry.

Not that any of the above definitions are bad, but I feel it is important to define clearly what we see as a healthy youth ministry because it’s this definition that undergirds many of the decisions made for the ministry at Colonial.

A healthy youth ministry is one where students who are broken receive healing through Jesus Christ and invite their friends to share in the experience. 

When I was a youth pastor in Georgia I met weekly with a small group of local youth pastors for fellowship and to talk through the issues of youth ministry. It was during these hours of talking through youth ministry that we discussed the above definition of a healthy youth ministry.

I like it for several reasons. First, it keeps Jesus Christ central in defining what a healthy youth ministry should be. Lives being changed through a relationship with Jesus is what the gospel is about.

Second, I don’t know or have ever met a teenager who isn’t hurting. From the school’s most popular kid struggling with expectations and pressure to put on a “face” to the kid with unrelenting feelings of isolation and loneliness. From peer pressure, to temptation, to a changing body, to identity struggles, all teenagers are hurting in some form and need the healing, redemptive power of Jesus Christ.

Finally, I like this definition of a healthy youth ministry because it infers that numerical growth is a natural by-product in a healthy youth ministry. Friendships are core to the teenage experience and if a teenager is enjoying themselves and finding meaning through Jesus Christ they will naturally want their friends involved as well, which lead to growth.

Admittedly, it is much more difficult to measure success using this as a definition. A simple head count is much more quantifiable! But we have seen success. We have stories of Sr. High students who have called their youth leaders first in crisis and made great strides on their faith journey. We also have Jr. High students who are bringing more and more of their friends to our Wednesday evening program. Signs of health!

We want to build RELATIONSHIPS in the youth ministry! We want friendships to be formed and connections to be made. Our focus is creating a safe environment where it is easy for students to get to know each other, for students to get to know leaders, and for all to grow in a deeper relationship with God.

Building relationships in the youth group is so critical to what we do that we’ve created a simple guide where this approach is “spelled out.”

Relational approach. We want students to connect with one another, students to connect with caring adults, and all to connect with God!

Encouragement. We want youth group to be a place where teenagers are cheered on.

Laughter and celebration. We want fun to be a part of all we do.

Acceptance. We never want students to feel like they have to look or be a certain way to be loved.

Transparency. We want to be a place for students to feel safe to be open and authentic, sharing honestly about their joys and struggles.

Involvement. We want all students to feel included and welcome.

Outreach. We want students to be introduced to mission opportunities for those in need.

Numerical growth. We want students to invite their friends to Colonial.

Spiritual growth. Above all, we want students to grow in their relationship with Jesus.

Homelike environment. We want Colonial to be a place where students feel relaxed, comfortable, and welcome anytime.

Intentional. We want to know what is going on in the lives of students and will be purposeful in following-up with students.

Professional demeanor. We want to be true to our word at Colonial and will try hard to respect your time by respecting starting and ending times.

Strategic follow-up. We have a team of leaders who care about teenagers and are trained to call, text, or facebook to stayed involved in the things that matter.

This past weekend was an important day in our middle school ministry! The 6th graders celebrated their First Communion. Parents and students gathered together for a day filled with community building and learning about the history and significance of this sacrament. We ended the day in the kitchen, where these students baked the Communion bread used in worship on Sunday morning. It was a wonderful day with incredible families! It is my hope and prayer that milestones such as this are times where seeds are planted in the hearts of these students, so that they may further grow in their relationship with Jesus and see their place in the larger congregation of Colonial.

-Nicole

On Saturday, November 19th, we’re having an evening for just the girls! All girls and their friends who are in grades 6-8 are welcome to join us from 6-10pm here at Colonial Church for an evening of fun and friendship that is just for them. Girls just want to have fun and that’s exactly what we’ll have this night! We’ll escape from the boys around us and enjoy a night filled with wonderfully girly things. Cost includes dinner and some surprise activities! Sign up here. It will set you back $15.

On Friday, November 18, 6-10pm, we’re having a night a greatness just for our 6-8th grade guys and their friends. Guy stuff and only guy stuff for our guys! Dodgeballs will be flying, some strobelights will be involved, flags will be captured, plus other things too manly to be shared, so come for a night with just your bros. Cost includes dinner, plus a snack and the evening is guaranteed to grow a beard in 4 short hours. Sign up here. It will set you back $15.

With Thanksgiving drawing closer, here are 5 Reasons to be thankful for your kids:

5) They are entertainment. How can a parent ever be bored? Kids can provide a constant stream of entertainment. From the faces they make to the things they say, an observant parent is an entertained parent. Of course, if you calculate the cost of providing for a child you realize that you are paying about $4,236 (an estimate) for each cute thing they say!
4) They are a magic mirror. The longer you look, the older they get, the more of yourself you can see in them. Look carefully and you will learn more about yourself than any other mirror can reveal. Unfortunately, when you look back at yourself it feels like one of those circus mirrors that add a couple dozen hundred pounds, and you wonder how you were ever so slim when you were a kid.
3) They are great teachers. Role reversal is an integral part of parenting. As much as we can teach our kids, there is much to learn from them if we pay attention. Now if we can just figure out how to guard them from picking up our bad habits!
2) They are our legacy. It is every person’s dream to leave their mark on the world, and every parent does, through their children. Which, in a round about way, is probably one of the reasons we’ll spoil our grandchildren.
1) They are love. There is no more amazing love than the love of a parent for their child. Except perhaps, the love of a child for their parent. Both are worth everything. And both remind us of the love from our Heavenly Father.

Of course, there are a million reasons to be thankful for our kids, from what they can teach us, and how we can see ourselves in them, to just the crazy, unexplainable love we have for them. Now if we could just get them to cut the complaining and just appreciate all the hard work it takes for us to cook them the giant turkey this Thanksgiving!

Sundays, 10:00 am, Music Center
Colonial Youth Choir will rehearse each Sunday in between worship services. All youth in grades 6-12 are welcome to join the choir, under the direction of Dr. David Henderson.

I have a lot of conversations around teenagers’ use of technology and how much is too much. It’s something I struggle with as my 3-year-old is a whiz with my iPhone and iPad. The question on everyone’s mind is “Will there be long-term implications from this?”

I came across a Mashable article: 5 Lessons for Parenting in the Digital Age. I’ll give you a couple of the highlights, but I really encourage you to click through. It’s insightful and helpful.

Few parents are going to completely forbid their children from interacting with today’s amazing gadgetry. However, it’s essential that we focus on a conscious, rather than habitual, use of modern technology.

The desire to be connected will not go away. But the ways we connect should expand to include more activities. That way, time spent digitally connecting will be one form of many.

Jason Sansbury, a youth pastor in Tennessee, has been our nightly speaker at Pyro 2 for 5 years now. I stumbled upon a blog post I had no idea he had written where he shared his experience of Pyro 2. Click here and enjoy a “behind-the-scenes” of Pyro 2.: http://crossed-up.com/?p=19

Or…you can click here for a second opinion. This one is from Michael Adkins, who we asked to make the trip up from Georgia to Pyro 2 because he’s a jack-of-all-trades who helps in several areas: http://mike-adkins.blogspot.com/2011/08/pyro-ii-2011.html

Parents, below are the themes for our first several weeks in high school youth group. You’ll notice there will be a question associated with each week. The hope is that this is something that they can share with you at home throughout the week and will lead to some great conversations.

GETTING OLDER WON’T GROW YOU UP Series Overview
Do you ever wish you could just grow up? Are you counting down the days until you will get their driver’s licenses? Or graduate from high school? Or go away to college? You don’t really want to be seen as a kid anymore, do you? You want to be seen as an adult. You want to feel like you’ve moved on, grown up. We all know how that happens physically, but what about spiritually? How do we know we’re growing in our faith? How do you know that you’re moving forward in that area of your life? The good news is that God is just as passionate about growing our faith as we are. At youth group we’re going to talk about several of the ways He will use to do that—some involving things that you probably already know, and other ways that you may have never thought about before.

Week One: Big Faith
Your faith in God matters to God. In fact, God is most honored through your living, active faith. That being the case, He’s committed to growing it. BIG. Imagine how differently you would respond to difficulties, temptations, and even good things if you knew with certainty that God was in all of it and was planning to leverage it for good. But in order for all of that to happen, there’s one thing it all hinges on—your trust.
Week One Take-home Question: What area of your life are you most reluctant to trust God? Why?

Week Two: Big Life
You can know a lot. Maybe you know the stats of every football player in the NFL. Maybe you know the cheat codes to hundreds of games. Maybe you know every Scripture in the New Testament. But unless you do something with what you know, then what you know isn’t enough. Especially when it comes to our faith. God’s truth was meant to be put into action. It was meant to affect our lives, our relationships. And when we begin to live out the truths we know, something happens to us our faith. It begins to grow.
Week Two Take-home Question: What is one truth that you know from the Bible that you can commit to live out this week? Follow up with each other to see how that’s going.

Week Three: Big Team
Who has had the most influence in your life? Your mom? Your dad? A coach? A camp counselor? There are all kinds of people that play a part in our lives, in our stories. And some of these people have played a part in how you see God. In fact, God has used some of those relationships to grow your faith. We call these relationships ‘providential’ because they are about having the right people in your life at just the right time.
Week Three Take-home Question: Who are the people in your life who have had a direct impact on your relationship with God? In what way did these people influence, guide or encourage you?

Week Four: Big Moments
Have you ever met someone who went through something really difficult, yet if they had a chance to rewind and change what happened, they would be reluctant to do it? And the reason is because there was something they learned from that experience. It’s what we call a pivotal circumstance, a defining moment in their lives. Each of us has had one. Some may seem bigger than others. But to each one of us, they are huge. And you know what? Even thought it’s not something we would necessarily choose or want to happen, God takes those moments and uses them to grow our faith.
Week Four Take-home Question: Share about a time in your life that was really hard, but something good came out of it. Maybe you learned something new about God or yourself. Maybe you built some great relationships with people who supported you. How did what you learned or experienced somehow make the situation more bearable?

Series Activity: Big Give
God grows your faith through spiritual disciplines. That’s probably not news for you. Praying and being generous are just things that Christian do. But there’s more than just doing an action because it’s the right thing to do. In fact, in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He tells us that not only is our heart tied to how we pray and our generosity, but also the growth of our faith.
Each students will get a journal that is their’s to keep.

Group Activity: Big Serve
Did you know that your spiritual growth is linked to your service? That’s right. You get something out of filling that volunteer position in the nursery or children’s ministry. You’re not just doing a job, filling a slot—you’re growing. God uses that service to teach you something about Him and others. And even if you don’t feel like you’re the best person for the job, or if you wonder, “Why am I doing this?” God says that if you want to grow, you have to serve.
As a youth group we will be participating in a service project revolving around water, tying into Daniel’s sermon series.

It really sets in that summer is over after Pyro 2. With fall on our minds, I wanted to take a brief moment to reflect on these incredible 6 days. It’s hard to narrow down only a few moments from such an action-packed week, but here are a few highlights that stood out for me: an Affirmations time where students wrote down encouraging things to their cabin mates as well as received encouraging words; seeing 188 young people jumping with their hands in the air praising God; Hearing 5 high school/college students share their testimonies; playing life-size angry birds; going off the blob with a cabin of 7^th grade girls and a final bonfire for the 9^th grade students closing their last year of camp.

While I could go on for hours and hours about my experiences at camp I thought I would ask a few campers (some boys and some girls of all 3 grades) what their highlights were. This is some of what they shared:

“Over the five days at Pyro 2 I really let Jesus into my life, and learned that he is really important to me. I learned to put Jesus first, and I have never loved him as much as I do now, after going to Pyro 2.”

“My favorite part was the oatmeal fight at night! It was so much fun with the strobe lights and everything also I loved the dance party because you could just have fun and be with your friends!”

“My favorite part was cabin time, because of how you got to learn so much about your cabin mates in such a short time.”

“Loved the games and the activities! So much fun! Can’t wait till next year!!”

“The highlight of my week was dressing up each night for club and singing and praising together and listening to Jason’s talks and then going into cabin time to talk about it because I felt closest to God at those times.”

“Well my favorite part has gotta be learning to play Egyptian Rat Slap (card game) and my second favorite part is making new friends.”

As we head into the fall and leave camp silent until next summer… we trust in God that. We know these students are capable and ready to live super lives and it is our prayer that the decisions made at camp to live for Something greater, Undertake that adventure, continually Push on towards Jesus Expecting difficulties but trusting in the Rewards, will last a lifetime.

-Nicole

As fall approaches, there are of course some dates we want you to know and the website is your best source for those! But there are also some big picture things we want you to know about youth ministry that will be beneficial, both for you and us.

1.    We want to be on your team.

We realize that students spend way more time with you than they do at the church. Because of that, we want to be in a position where we walk alongside you as you strive to be the most effective parent and disciple-maker you can be. You are the primary authority in your student’s faith development; your experience as a parent enhances our scope as a ministry and we will always be an advocate for you.

2.    We actually have a strategy.

We don’t plan stuff just to plan stuff. Our hope is, through youth ministry at Colonial, students will have a growing relationship with God, place their identity in Jesus, that they’d learn to make Biblically-informed decisions, that they’d love others, worship God, and ultimately say YES to God’s call on their lives. We have reasons for each game, lesson and trip that we do. If you don’t know what those are, check in with us!

3. Let us know when we do right… and politely let us know when we do wrong.

Everyone likes to get encouraged for doing something right, don’t they? So please let us know when we did something right! Yet we also need to know when we fall short. Constructive criticism never hurt anybody…when done with a loving attitude. We always strive to be improving the ministry and you are the best judges of the impact on your students.

We are so excited for the fall to begin and to see your students on a weekly basis! Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to invest in their lives and keep in mind, we are always available for an email, phone call or meeting as we seek to support you and your family.

-Nicole

This past March, 32 students participated in an event called Sound Off for Hunger. We turned off our technology to tune in to God’s heart for the hungry. Part of the event was dedicated to collecting food from the neighborhoods surrounding Colonial. The food these students collected filled 42 grocery bags. Just a few weeks ago, that food was donated to Northside residents affected by the May 22nd tornado. Just one way our students are making an impact both, here and around the world.

On May 22nd the youth choir comprised of 6th-12th graders, had their final performance of the year. This talented bunch sang Amazing Grace marvelously! A huge thank you to David and Kris Henderson for all their work leading this choir! Thank you students for sharing your musical gifts with the larger congregations!

Our regular Wednesday night youth groups ended just about 2 weeks ago and that is always bittersweet. I miss seeing the students regularly, yet I am so excited for our summer events!

This marked my first year as the Youth Ministry Associate, in charge of the junior high programs and it was nothing short of an incredible year. I am proud of these students in so many ways. They accomplished amazing feats (see the Sound Off for Hunger blog post). They sustained a sponsorship for a girl in Zambia through weekly donations. They welcomed new friends and deepened relationships in small groups.

We made a few amendments to Crash this year, including the first Youth Council-a leadership team comprised of two students from each small group. Additionally, each student was placed on one of four teams-Danceformers, Holy Flyers, Hawtobots and Purple Pickled Platypus, who competed each week for points and the Danceformers were our champions! Finally, each of our leaders shared a weekly two-minute testimony correlating with the night’s topic.

This year at Crash we had a lot of fun, laughter and overall good times. However youth group is so much more than that. We learned together, grew together and served together forming a community that is more than a weekly gathering. We are a part of something bigger, a Story that is bigger then us, yet distinctively involves each of us and it is my prayer that throughout this year these students were able to grow in their love for each other because they know God first loved them.

Thank you to all the leaders who faithfully walked with these students each week-Kirsten, Abbey, Molly, Katy, Maddy, Sam, Maggie, Charlie, Zach, Ryan, Henry, Andrew, Adam, Andrew and Tobin. And thank you parents for all that you have done and for the opportunity to partner with you in your child’s faith journey.

-Nicole