Last Post on Blogger

I have moved my blog from here to Word Press and will be hosting it  through Go Daddy.  I will be making several big changes in the next couple weeks on my site.  This will give me more freedom to add some new things.  Please join me on this adventure.


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Friday Flashback in Youth Ministry...Songs on Transparencies

As graduations finish up this past weekend I thought of when I graduated high school.  I got a lot of money for graduation gifts.   I used part of my money to buy several boxes of blank transparencies, a black transparency box, and a Fender guitar.  I knew that at sometime I would use them when I started in Youth Ministry.   Later that summer before I left to come to the University of South Carolina I went up to my church and spent several hours making hard copies and transparencies of my youth pastor's song box.  I look back and laugh as now I have all my music saved in PDF and view my music on my iPad as we stream it through Media Shout and ProPresenter.  I think back of having to have someone manually move the songs.

To this day I still have my box of songs and my original songbook with all the hard copies of the songs.  I think sometime soon I might do a Sunday Night youth program using these ancient forms of youth ministry!

Green Gorillas and Church Signs

The other day when I was at home in Augusta, GA, I saw several men in a local car dealership tying balloons to antennas in their lot.   Not too far from them was a big 20ft inflatable gorilla that said "SALE".  I don't know about you, but I have never stopped at a car dealership to buy a car just because the car had a balloon attached to it.  I have also never been lured in by a big 20ft inflatable gorilla telling me that there is a sale going on.  Mainly because I know that it is a gimmick.  When I need a new vehicle I will take my time, research what I want, check the internet for the best price, and then go to the dealership.

I think often that as churches we try to be like car deanships with our cute sayings on our church signs.  And often our church signs are as bad or worse than having a gorilla with the word sign.  A lot of church signs have messages that speak in Christianeese or telling people to turn or burn.   They can often be too witty.  I wonder sometimes what non-Christians think when they see all the church signs on their way to work or on their errands.

When it comes down to it, I'm going to buy a new truck for my needs or from the suggestion of a friend. I think that is how we need to focus and teach our congregations.   They are the best church signs by their daily living and experience in our church

Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Let us not give up meeting together,

as some are in the habit of doing,

but let us encourage one another.

-- Hebrews 10:24-25

For many churches, summer means we shut the doors on all our programs and take a summer break.  So is that a good or bad thing.   We are instructed to spur one another on and not give up the habit of meeting together.  So why do we?

May churches use the time to give their volunteers a break.  Others are afraid of a small turn out during summer months.  And others just don't have the people power to have events all summer long.

For the last couple weeks I've been catching up with a lot of friends in youth ministry and have heard various plans for the summer.   The are several churches that have stopped small group ministry during the summer, but are continuing to have regular youth program time.  Several others are stopping programing and small groups and going the event based summer plans.  Others have some type of program, camp, retreat, or mission opportunity going on all summer every week.   Others are having event based events in place of program and continuing small groups during the summer.  In the past I have tried each one of these a time or too.

For us, we have two mission trips, a beach retreat, Sunday Night events, and small groups meeting every week through the summer.   This is my first summer with this group and we will see if it works.  One important reason we did not stop small groups for the summer is because we just started them in the Spring and things are going great.

I do events, such as pool party, going to the river and lake, bowling, movie nights, and other things to help build our group through fellowship.  I also see it as a great opportunity for students to invite their friends and not feel threatened by the church experience.  Over the years, I have seen many of my strongest leaders come from being invited during the summer. 

No matter which route your youth program goes this summer, take time for your students and remind them of this verse in Hebrews.

Is there downtime in Youth Ministry?

I know that I've been guilty as the next youth worker in saying, "After this next event...things will slow down..."

But do they and should we allow there to be downtime in our ministry?

Yes
There should be downtime so we can rest and prepare for our next event.  I typically see towards the end of the school year and the beginning of summer as down time.  Its a time to reflect and see where things should change for the fall.  It is a slow down time before all the summer missions and retreats happen.  For me personally I have always changed from program based to event based ministry in the summer.  And always in December, youth ministry slows down with Advent events so it gives everyone a breather.   I think we need them, but we also have to create other downtimes throughout the year to keep us from going crazy.  I think you have to have unplanned and planned down time in ministry

No
There is no downtime, because we are always planning and getting ready for the next Sunday.  But the way around this is to delegate.   So when you are having downtime, someone else is picking up.

What are your thoughts?

Back to the grind

Hard to believe that I haven't posted in several days, but things got crazy at the end of the week.

Thursday I had planned to write several blogs.  I first had to drive to Charlotte to meet with a realtor about putting our house back on the market, then had lunch and hung out with one of my old youth and then came home and was ready to blog... but the power went out and my laptop was not charged.  Then Friday and Saturday I went to Augusta.  While in Augusta I went to Friday nights worship at St. Mark UMC for the Augusta River of Life.  It was an amazing time of worship and a great message on King David.  After worship, I hung around to talk with Mark and Scot about our Summer Camp.  Really excited about what we have in store for our students in July.  

Then I hung out in the St. Mark UMC parking lot talking to an old friend/old roommate/old youth pastor for three hours.  It was great to catch up with Chip and pick his brain on youth ministry.  Really helped me through some thoughts I had on planning for the next year...more to come in a future blog on this....

Sunday was Confirmation Sunday.  We confirmed eight out of ten students who were in the class.  The other two were out of town and we will confirm them soon.  Then we had our kick off to summer pool party.  Had a great turnout and a great time.

Summer is here!

Finding a job in Youth Ministry: Communication

The biggest thing I learned in the search process last year, was Communication.  And I want to break down the communication into: Sending your Resume, Follow-up, and negotiations.

1.  Sending your Resume
   In the past I have just emailed or faxed a cover letter and my resume.   Lars Rood helped me change my resume.  Over the past 14 years, I have led camps and mission trips, spoke at many retreats and events, led worship, and many various other things outside of normal paid youth ministry.  Instead of having a five page resume, Lars helped me consolidate it into small sub areas of worship, program, speaking, and multi-media.   Lars also had me not only send my resume via email or fax but also send a hard copy.   Every church I met with or talked with said that was how I stood out over the hundreds of applicants.  Very few people send their resume in as a hard copy.   Lars pointed out to me that it takes ten seconds to email a resume, but it actually takes time and effort to buy resume paper, print it out, fold it, and mail it.  And that was one of the best tips he gave me.   I also enclosed in my packet to the churches a folder that broke down my different areas of youth ministry along with an audio or dvd of me speaking and leading worship.

2.  Follow-up

I always would send an email and call the head of the search committee and the staff person to make sure he/she received my resume.

Churches at this point separated themselves from me being interested or not.  Many of the search committees did not have a time frame, so they were very slow.  Several I did not interview with because it took too long and I was already into final rounds with other churches.

After having an interview I always sent a hand written thank you note to the Senior Pastor as well as the search committee.  I also sent an email and would sometimes call to personally thank them for their time.

The best interview processes at several churches was when they would weekly call me or email and let me know where they were in the process.  But the sad thing is that was only about 3 churches.  The other churches I had to call or email to find out if I had made it to the next round.

3.  Negotiations

This was a problem with several churches I was very interested in.  They put out a job search, a job description but failed to have a final number of what their package would look like.  Many churches want years of experience and education but are not willing to meet the packages of someone who is married and has a family.  Several offers were very embarrassing to try to negotiate.  Others were very willing.  My hope and prayer for all churches currently looking for someone is that they take care of the youth workers.  I really feel that if they treated the negotiation process and gave better packages and benefits, we would not see as high of a turnover in youth ministry as we currently do.

More tomorrow!

Finding a job in Youth Ministry

Little over a year ago, I started the process of searching for a new position in Youth Ministry.  My wife and I felt called to move, so we started to look.  During the beginning process we were getting calls from churches, when we had not even posted a resume or let anyone know that we were looking.  It was a very exciting yet scary time on where to look.   With the help of a good friend in ministry Lars Rood, I updated my resume and put it on YS Job Bank.   I searched the YS job bank daily as well as several other sites.  But the YS job bank was where I had the most success while looking.

We traveled as far west as Hoover, AL, south to Tampa and Orlando, and throughout the Carolinas and Georgia.  It was a long process.

As I was finishing my Masters of Arts in Christian Education with an emphasis in Youth Ministry through Pfeiffer University and Wesley Theological Seminary, I was daily searching for a change.   I was mostly trying to stay in my roots in the United Methodist Church.  I saw bad communications, bad search committees, horrible follow-up, great people, frustrations, and roadblocks.  These were things that I had never experienced before while searching for previous youth ministry positions.  It amazed me how churches would publish one thing in their online ad and then be a total different church when I looked them up online or went to visit the church.  I'm glad I did my homework on the churches or I might be looking for another position right now if I would have taken one of them.

One major thing that helped was having a network of friends in Youth Ministry.  Lars Rood was beyond a friend with his help and support during my searching.  I'm not sure where I would have landed if it weren't for his guidance and suggestions.  I was in unchartered territory while looking.  My previous searches for positions in the past were very short, but with the economy and state of some churches, the process was very long with many dead ends.   One of the biggest dead ends was with my education and experience.  Many churches want someone with a Masters Degree in Youth Ministry, certified in Youth Ministry through the United Methodist Church, and with over 10 years of experience.  But the problem was that they did not have the pay or support church budget for youth ministry.   The one thing that Lars kept telling me was not to sacrifice the well-being of my family for the hard work I had put in for my education and experience.   Then on the other end of the spectrum, there were some churches that could, but felt that I had not been in large enough churches to be a part of their staff.  So for quite some time in the month of June I felt that I was stuck in between the two types of churches on an island.


We learned many things during our six month search.  

During the next couple days, I'm going to dive into several of these topics.

Coming soon...two blogs

In the upcoming weeks I will be adding another blog.   This blog will evolve into more of a youth ministry help/idea/suggestion blog while my new blog will be more devotion/weekly lesson review/church blog.

More to come in the upcoming weeks

A time to slow down

After small groups on Wednesday night, we packed the Explorer and headed to Myrtle Beach for a mini vacation.  Thursday morning we woke up early and grabbed breakfast and then headed for the beach.  It was a great time of just sitting, watching the waves, enjoying the sun, and listening to Pandora radio.  After several hours we moved to the resort pool area.  We played around in the lazy river and then took Mallory to the kids play area that was in a Pirate ship.  

We had a couple text and phone calls wishing us Happy Anniversary but neither of us paid attention to our phones mostly because they weren't charged.  But for once we didn't care.  We just enjoyed the silence.

It was great just to take a small break and have family time.  It was also great to be at the beach and just look out and enjoy God's beauty.

Missing posts...

Tuesday and Wednesday I was very busy so I was unable to really check my blog. Lately I take a few hours and write multiple blogs and then schedule them for the near future. Wednesday night after small groups I took my wife and daughter to the beach for a small get away and to celebrate our 4 year anniversary. And for the first time in a while I didn't use my MacBook or iPad. I just enjoyed our time away. Surprisingly when I just logged on I noticed that all my scheduled blogs were gone and also not published!

So I just to apologize to my daily readers for an empty blog over the past couple days. I hope in the future that does not happen. But it also just seals the deal on me changing from blogger to another blog host.

Third Day - I've Always Loved You (w/ Lyrics)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q199fzDefLw

"I've always Loved You" by Third Day is probably my favorite song of all time.  I still remember the first time I heard it.  I purchased it the week that it came out in 1999, but being busy I didn't put it in my CD player until I took a road trip that weekend.   A few weeks prior, my grandmother had a stroke and I went by myself to Atlanta to visit her.  
My grandmother was the first person in my life that saw God's calling.  She told me and my mother before she passed away that she saw that I was going to go into ministry.  My grandmother was the church organist and pianist for years.  She was a very Godly woman and did more for others than I can even write.  She was always there for me.  She always sent cards on every holiday, where she would put a couple dollars in, and if she didn't have the money she would put a few sticks of gum in there.  When I lived in Atlanta in the Summer and Fall of 1998, every time I had an opportunity I went over and visited with her.  I still can see her smile every time I met her for lunch and for church.  I know that I made her really proud.  But after she passed away and I heard the number of stories of how she showed God's love to others, she made me proud.
In 2005 when we started a contemporary service at Lithia Spring UMC, we wanted to play this song, but I had a tough time with it.  The weekend before, I went home and my brother Michael showed me how to play it.  I had several opportunities later at River of Life and other retreats to play it with my brother.
Every time I hear that song, it brightens my day.  Anytime I'm down, I pull out my guitar and play it.  It reminds me that God is always there and no matter what I do or whatever happens...He loves us!


"I've Always Loved You"

I don't know how to explain it
But I know that words will hardly do
Miracles with signs and wonders
Aren't enough for me to prove to you

Don't you know I've always loved you
Even before there was time
Though you turn away
I'll tell you still
Don't you know I've always loved you
And I always will

Greater love has not a man
Than the one who gives his life to prove
That he would do anything
And that's what I'm going to do for you 

Last Monday...I had a chance to guest blog

Last Monday I had the privilege of guest blogging on Carl Jones blog http://youthguy07.blogspot.com/

If you didn't get a chance to read it, go over to http://youthguy07.blogspot.com/2011/05/encounters-with-god-eric-hendrickson.html

I've shared this part of my life with only a couple people until I wrote this.   I invite you to take a couple minutes and read it.

Thanks

check out the Josh Ridings Band

In 2001 and 2002 I had the opportunity to play guitar with Josh Ridings at USC FCA.   In recent years I've had Josh and his band lead worship for a retreat and my youth group.  They are amazing!  Go to iTunes and download their stuff!

http://joshridingsband.blogspot.com/

Josh Ridings Band formed in 2009 when Josh Ridings, Shag Tucker, and William Tucker began writing songs for Hope Point Church, in Spartanburg, SC, where they lead worship weekly.  Their albums, Sing Out Loud (2009) and Kingdom Come Down (Fall 2010), are filled with honest, energetic songs intended to be catalysts for both individual and corporate worship of Jesus Christ.  Each song has its roots in real prayers and experiences of the band.   Josh Ridings Band believes the Lord has given its members a unique gift of writing deep, biblical truths that are melodic and easy to sing.   Josh Ridings admits, “It is my goal to declare and display Jesus Christ with every song I sing.” 

Do you need surgery?

”The word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

    --Hebrews 4:12

 

The other night I was flipping through the channels on my TV and stopped on of the shows that show an entire surgery.   It was very interesting to watch the precise detail of what goes on in the Operating Room.  It is kind of like how God works on us and our Spiritual lives every day.  

How often do you let God do major surgery on your spirit as his Spirit uses the Word to encourage, judge, motivate, convict, instruct, and inspire?  With such a  great tool so readily at hand for most of us, let's not let a  day go by that we don't let God use his word on hearts.

God has a will for our heart's desire.  We need to realize that we need to be fed more consistently by His Word revealed in Scripture.  Ask God to give you strength and consistency  in your walk with God through His Word.    Through His Spirit,  be inspired to change what needs to be changed and to be blessed  and encouraged in the areas that you need it most.  Turn to God and trust Him in the works He wants for you and your life.

RESPECT...Find out what it means to me...

Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love, and in endurance.    --Titus 2:2

     

Worthy of respect?  It seems like in today’s world, we have forgotten the meaning of the word Respect.  If you go to Dictionary.com, you can will see that Respect means:  A feeling of appreciative, often deferential regard; esteem, The state of being regarded with honor or esteem, Willingness to show consideration or appreciation, respects Polite expressions of consideration or deference. 

Taking a look at Titus 2:2, what a goal for our lives whether we are men or women!  Don't you want your life to reflect the character of God because our faith expresses itself in a life of self-control.  This work of the Spirit in our lives happens only as we dedicate ourselves to being what he is at work trying to accomplish in us. 

Take a look at your life and see how you can gain better control of your passions, your  speech, your  example, your daily lifestyle, and your habits.  Ask God to help you give up the things that take away from your spiritual passion and your influence for good to those who do not know Jesus.

Rain

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have

watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. -Isaiah 55:10-11

Rain... We have been all too familiar with it these days as we awake to a grey sky and humid drizzle.  It is uncomfortable to have to endure the weather - the extra coat or umbrella, perhaps a pair of leaky shoes

whose inefficiency is made worse by patches of soggy ground.  Yet as troublesome and depressing as a

sullen, grey sky and falling water can be, in a sense rain is a wonder, too. Where we have built hard surfaces of asphalt and concrete, building roofs and gutters, the water rolls off and is whisked away.  But where there is a space of ground or a bit of growth, the rain sinks in and returns to the earth the life-giving water necessary for growth.

In Isaiah, the prophet compares God's word to the life-giving water of rain and snow.  It is a life-giving word which goes out from God, a word which showers upon the earth to accomplish God's purpose.  Like the rain, God's word comes upon us seeking us in love so that we might live more and more to God and for God. And though in the end God's word will not be thwarted (even the hardest of mountains are, in time, worn away through the power of water and wind), we certainly have a knack for building hard places in our lives that whisk the word away.  Where is the "rain" of God's word falling in your life this week (Where is God in all of this?)?   What are those "hard places" which make it difficult to for the word to sink in?

Do not call list

" God called to him…And he said, ‘Here I am” –Exodus 3:4

When God calls us we treat it like a wrong number or a telemarketing call and give no answer.  Sometimes we even put God on our “Do Not Call List”.  Moses’ response to God’s call revealed that he knew where he was and that he was ready.  Readiness is being in a right relationship with God and having the knowledge of where we are.  

But too many times, we are too busy telling God where we want Him to be or where we want to instead of being ready for what God has in store and where He is.  We  sometimes wait with the idea that some great opportunity or something will be coming our way and when it does, we are quick to say “Here I am”.  

Instead we need to come to God humbly and lay it all down and say “Here I am”.  God has so many great things in store for us if we would only allow ourselves to be ready and willing to be in His purpose.  Stop putting God on hold, not answering, or putting him on a “Do Not Call List” and put Christ in the center of your life by answering God’s calling in your life.

Inked by Forgiveness

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.  “Matthew 6:14-15”

"Inked by forgiveness.   Too often in our lives we are stuck at holding on and not forgiving.  This verse is such a staggering statement, when any of us fail to forgive another person; our lack of forgiveness is a barrier to God forgiving us.  Not forgiving ourselves and others places us outside the gracious forgiving love of God.

BUT THERE IS GREAT HOPE…God wants you to have freedom:

When we realize how much we have been forgiven, it enables us to make the choice to forgive others; it allows the Holy Spirit to do a deeper work in us.

CHALLENGE:  Who in your life do you need to forgive?

Last Stretch

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never

ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." Lamentations 3:21-24

It seems like we always have so many plans and so many hopes and aspirations for how things should be or how I want them to be. And yet, as we head into this last stretch before another School year is in the books, we find ourselves already tired.  Not just sleepy, but tired.  At times it is as if we are trying to run the 100 meter dash wearing a pair of concrete shoes.  And yet we are reminded of the fact that perhaps our fatigue lies not so much in our busy-ness, but maybe in our poor focus.  

It is not that our daily activities, sports, hobbies, projects, and hanging out with friends, are trivial or are not worth careful attention.  They are indeed important, I believe, a part of what God has called us to do and be at this point in time.  No, the problem is often that we find ourselves trying to do too much, too perfectly, under our own power instead of trusting in the renewing love of the One who is Perfection and Power.