Category Archives: Faith Foundations/Bible Study

by Brian Aaby | April 11, 2013 · 5:01 am

Five Things You May Have Forgotten

When asked “what do you do?” most youth pastors can identify some major areas of his or her week (church meetings, youth group and message prep). Obviously there are other small areas that require more thought. However, many are forgetting some very basic but BIG areas. My hope is that this post will serve as a simple reminder.

Some things you may have forgotten to put on your schedule (in no particular order)…

Did you forget to encourage (and inform) your team members?

An early-week (short) email to your team (lay leaders) goes a long way. Share the wins from the weekend, the schedule for the next program event and give praise for the role your leaders play!

Did you forget to “read your Bible and pray?”

This may seem like a “duh” category, unfortunately I have to list it. I am discovering an increasing number of youth leaders who are only spending time in the Word to prep a message and MANY admit to not really spending any time in the Word itself, most just glance at the verses provided by curriculum. In addition, few of us are scheduling time to just listen to God and respond in prayer.

Did you forget to program as if someone new could be coming?

Take a minute to think about your Sunday School, youth group and small group settings from the perspective of the new kid. Would a new person know where to go upon arrival? Would he/she be greeted? Are people even trained in how to greet? Would you even be able to capture the new persons information so that proper follow-up can be done? Believe it or not, these things take time.

Did you forget to set the example in the areas of application that matter to you the most?

If I were to sum up my youth pastor-passion it would be to have students fall deeply in love with Christ, showing/sharing that love with the lost and propelling their Christian friends. But, I can only lead students/staff as far as I am able to go myself. Part of my weekly rhythm needs to include time prioritizing my own (peer, my age range) time with the unchurched and personal time with Jesus.

Did you forget to give others permission to develop and exercise their gifts?

Calling it as I see it: too many youth pastors spend too much time doing their own thing (agenda/direction for the ministry) rather than taking the time to equip and empower others to do the better thing. Even though it takes time, schedule times to collaborate (with students, staff and parents) and make space for others to use and develop those gifts!

Do these five things and you’ll see immediate results and long-term fruit!

What else would you say are areas we may be forgetting to schedule?

Grace,

Brian

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Filed under Aaby Family, Faith Foundations/Bible Study, Gospel Conversations, Home and Ministry, Random/Rant, Student Ministry Stuff (SMS)

by Brian Aaby | April 4, 2013 · 9:37 am

Things That Bug Me Most About Youth Ministry

I’ve been involved in youth ministry for over 20 years! I absolutely love it, so please don’t let the title of this post be an invitation to a Debbie Downer moment.

God is at work and there is much to rejoice about when it comes to student ministry. The following is simply a list of stuff that has gotten under my skin… the good news, every one of these is fixable! I’m praying that naming these may be the first step towards the solution rather than just naming the problem.

Low standards bug me. Check out the dichotomy of messages we send students: We recruit teens to defend our country. We see those naturally gifted/talented in their sport and push them to the limits so that as a teen they can sign multi-million dollar contracts. We lead them to believe that if they work hard enough, take AP classes and keep their grades up they’ll receive massive scholarships for school. Yet in the church and youth ministry I don’t think we believe students are capable of so much more. We keep the standards low, we entertain them rather than include them in the development. Too often I hear, “they’re so busy with everything else we just want youth group to be a retreat for them.” When it comes to priorities, which one is winning, the areas that students are being pushed in or the refuge and retreat ministry?
Celebrating “growth” bugs me. I love when youth groups (or churches) grow! But the growth that should be celebrated is when someone who was not connected (to Christ or to a body of believers) begins to attend and be discipled. When a person comes from a different church or a different youth group our first reaction should be to protect the bride (unity). If your group is growing with already committed believers transferring in understand that another church/group is shrinking. This isn’t to say there aren’t reasons for people to leave, but please take the time to speak to those issues, seek reconciliation in the relationships involved even if it means your “numbers” are growing as rapidly. Equip your teens to seek and to save that which is lost! Sheep stealing is not growth.
Expecting teens to do something you aren’t even doing yourself REALLY bugs me. We (youth leaders, parents, pastors) become discouraged when students don’t do what we’ve asked them to do. “Read your Bible.” “Pray about that.” “Invite your unchurched friends.” “Get discipled.” “Be committed.” These are all things that we seem to expect of our teens, but are these things that you’re doing? I interact with a lot of pastors and youth pastors, many volunteer leaders and scores of parents of teens and I can tell you, the apple does not fall too far from the tree. The very expectations we have for teens are the very things that are NOT prioritized in the lives of adults. Are you pouring over Scriptures? Is prayer a priority? When is the last time you prioritized sharing Christ with your own peers?

On one hand I’m terrified about the future of student ministries, the very things I named can become an uncontrollable snowball that leads to entertainment only, numerically judged, low standard youth ministries. Or, through prayer, a recommitment to relationally driven, biblically based and Spirit-driven responses we could see a generation of teens lead the cause of Christ!

Grace,
Brian

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Filed under Faith Foundations/Bible Study, Gospel Conversations, Random/Rant, Student Ministry Stuff (SMS)

by Brian Aaby | April 1, 2013 · 10:22 am

April (No) Foolin’

Move: Mission Prep Workbook

This is an INCREDIBLE deal we are offering throughout the month of April. It represents a $40 savings for the Strategy or Strategy Pack Plus deals!

For just $59 per person you will receive a complete package to train participants for before, during and after a mission trip!

By ordering for a team (8 or more) you receive for each person:

A Mission Prep Workbook (10 studies and 10 applications)
A RoadGrip Devotional for the mission trip
A HomeBase Guided study for parents back home
A Merge Book; 18 studies through a book of the Bible after the mission

In addition, youth leaders receive a complete Leaders Guide which covers all the admin and fundraising as well as 10 outlines for teaching the entire youth group through the core Bible section of Acts the mission team is dealing with.

Many will want to take advantage of not just the curriculum but will want to do the Strategy Plus Pack which gets participants to one of our Mission51 Retreats. You get all the curric and the retreat for only $110!

To take advantage of either the $59 or $110 deals, click here.

Grace,
Brian

Social Media Reality Check- Are You Consumed?

The month started with 34 items on the “to do” list. Each task varied in size & time needed to complete. Slightly overwhelmed, I took a deep breath and dove in… a few minutes later temptation crept in…

… “hey man, quick question” a ministry friend of mine, Brian Ford, was Instant Messaging me through Facebook. “What would you say about your Facebook use? You don’t really use it, you use it a lot, you tend to think everyone is going away from it… something else?”

Facebooking with Brian Ford was not one of the 34 listed items on the to do list. But somehow it became priority #1. If it weren’t Brian on Facebook it could easily be an alert on TweetDeck or an iChat notification. I do NOT consider myself nor have I been diagnosed ADD, however I am discovering how easily the notifications distract and consume.

I was honest with Mr. Ford and told him that I likely am on it too much. We ended up talking about this off and on the next few days and today we both have gone live with blog posts (his is here). Brian spends some time talking about some of the struggles it has caused in his heart, mind and relationships. My post tackles the moderation issue.

How Can I Stay Social & Networked But Not Consumed?

I enjoy Twitter, Skype, iChat, and Facebook and I easily justify the need to stay connected on them. Much of my livelihood has to do with staying connected, available and aware of what’s going on in the ministry world and with the ministers in that world. But the reality is, those I need to stay the most connected with have access to me via text, email or a call. I need to remind myself if I am needed, they can find me.

I do not want Social Media to become a hindrance to my family, faith and/or ability to get work done. So, I am experimenting with something I’m calling First 5, Last 5.

What is First/Last 5?

I am going to challenge myself for a season (a few weeks) to take the first 5 and/or last 5 minutes before or after major breaking times during my day to engage in social media. These natural breaks include breakfast, lunch, end of regular work day and before bed. Other than those times the apps will be off and the sites off my desktop.

I’m not going to be legalistic, but my general guide will be:

First five minutes as I begin my workday
Last five before lunch
First five after lunch
Last five at end of workday

My goal at home is to be to keep them off until the kids are in bed and Elisabeth and I are both at the point where we feel the freedom to relax (TV, web, Netflix, etc.)

I have found that I can too easily get sucked into my newsfeed and too quickly link to a blog, news site or become consumed thinking about a witty response to a persons tweet. Therefore, in order to protect my family, my ministry and my workload I’m going to give this First/Last 5 a whirl! Any other takers?

Grace,
Brian

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Filed under Aaby Family, Faith Foundations/Bible Study, Feeling Friendly, Random/Rant, Student Ministry Stuff (SMS), TweetableYM, Youthmark Stuff

by Brian Aaby | February 12, 2013 · 7:09 am

Are you Focused?

This last weekend I was privileged to partner with two of my good friends in ministry. Rob Townshend and I tag-teamed a Jesus Focused Youth Ministry (JFYM) Forum in Rutland, VT! We “partnered” in a sense with another great friends of ours, Barry St. Clair (though Barry was hanging out in Georgia)! Barry was supposed to be in Connecticut leading another JFYM forum simultaneously… that got a little disrupted!

By now, we have ALL heard about the NE Storm! It was quite the doozy, but fortunately for me, I was smack-dab in the center of the donut hole that didn’t get hit hard. In Rutland we had about 6-8 inches of snow, whereas 15 miles in any direction received anywhere from 1 to 3 feet of snow! AMAZING!

Storms disrupt in many ways, don’t they? There were 63 people from a couple different states and several different cities/counties that were signed up with their leadership teams from a variety of churches. Well, given that the storm hit on Friday and Saturday we were blown away that 36 people were able to make it to the all-day Saturday event!

Of course storms are not always physical. The very nature of this JFYM Forum is to call those in ministry back to a calling that is storm-resistant (I can’t say storm-proof, because I believe we are supposed to be effected by the storms of life). The JFYM Forums focus on 6 main areas of our ministry life, they look at ministry from an inside out approach. The six core principles we facilitated wonderful discussions on:

Growing deep with Jesus
Passionate prayer
Building leaders
Discipling those in our care
Knowing, growing and reaching our culture
Creating opportunities to reach the lost

I thoroughly loved the unity in the room from the 5 different churches and people groups represented. There were a few high school students and several approaching their 70′s. We had some who would consider themselves ultra-conservatives and others who called themselves charismatics! But all of us agreed on the one name that brought us together and the one focus we wanted to have as we scattered: Jesus!

Are you Jesus focused in your ministry? Start with praying for the desire for personal growth, let that extend in and through every aspect of your personal and ministry life! It will lead to ministry fruit if you take an inside out approach!

Grace,
Brian

An Open Letter to Senior Pastors

NOTE: The below letter is not specific to any one pastor or a specific situation, rather, it stems from years of being a youth and associate pastor, a lay person in the church and now an elder.

Senior Pastors,

I admire you. You have chosen and been called to such a challenging position. Thank you. Though Hallmark likely created it, Pastor Appreciation Month is not often recognized the way that it should be and you’re not appreciated nearly enough.

You pour many hours into the Scriptures preparing your weekly messages but because you seek to meet the needs of your flock your study time is often cut short. You’re called upon to counsel, you’re asked to perform weddings and you’re expected to attend way too many fellowship lunches. You need to be at too many meetings and the one that you miss will NOT go unnoticed. I don’t envy your position, but I’m thankful you’re in it.

I hope you sense the sincerity of my above words. 99% of the Sr./Lead Pastors I have dealt with in my roles fit the above descriptions and I believe you need to hear more words of encouragement because your job is extremely difficult. I have a different form of encouragement for you as well… an encouragement to consider doing a few things I believe will help you and the people you care for. These suggestions may seem elementary, but please examine your leadership style and ask yourself and/or others if these things are true of you.

Collaborate: Your leadership is needed, but ownership in the values and convictions for the church will rarely come from your decree, rather by the discoveries of your leadership team (staff, elders, lay volunteers, etc.). Don’t tell them the direction, collaborate on the values and then lead them in the collective vision.

Develop: Steward your staff and your lay leadership well. The Rich Young Ruler walked away sad because he could not give away his riches to others in need. I believe a number of pastors would walk away sad if Jesus asked you to give away some of your gifted people (staff/leaders). Take the time (and allow your other pastors to take the time) to develop others under you with full knowledge that God may call them to be pastors, leaders and influencers to others elsewhere.

Get Unchurched: You spend 99% of your time with people who are or who think they are Christians. Many under your care have no idea how to bring Jesus into an everyday conversation. It won’t matter what you tell your people to say until they know that you’re being intentional about it too! I challenge you to fall in love with the lost, not just fall in love with the idea of the lost!

Again, I’m thankful for you and believe in you. My simple hope is that you’ll believe in us (your staff, your leaders and your congregants) a little more. Believe that we have good ideas and let us give them. Believe that we can be developed and give us the chance to mess up a bit and then catch us as we stumble. And last, believe in us enough to do life with us. Join us and set the example when it comes to loving and spending time with people who don’t yet know Jesus!

Grace,

Brian

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Filed under Faith Foundations/Bible Study, Feeling Friendly, Gospel Conversations, Home and Ministry, Random/Rant, Student Ministry Stuff (SMS)

by Brian Aaby | January 29, 2013 · 7:08 am

Theology, Relief Pitching and Porn

Is this guy really going to blog about theology, pitching and porn?

Yep.

Let me start with the given. Many Christians would say they want to be more like Jesus! We sing it on Sunday, we ask for it in our prayers and we study how to do it in God’s Word. The process of becoming more like Jesus is called sanctification (theology reference, check).

Let me move to another (yet hidden) given. Many Christians are engaging in sexual activities that are directly affecting their spiritual activity and effectiveness. They’re looking at porn. They’re reading filth. They’re flirting with disaster and an adulterous affair may be in their future. Real relationships are getting rocked as unrighteousness runs rampant (Porn reference, check).

I received a text early on Sunday morning from our Lead Pastor. He was sick and asked me to come in out of the bullpen and provide some relief (Pitching reference, check). I was honored!

I decided to preach through 1 Thessalonians because it is chock-full spiritual morsels! I believe it is one of the most practical books in all the Scriptures as it provides a relational context of how we are to do “real relationships” with one another! From the foundation of a relationship with God through Jesus in chapter one, Paul touches on pretty much every sort of relationship throughout the letter (God, family, friends, mentor, romance, unchurched, idol and lost).

However, chapter four really caught my attention. Paul schools us in Theology 101 and teaches through the principles of justification (being declared righteous), sanctification (being made more like Jesus) and glorification (with Jesus in heaven). But get this, Paul makes a direct link between this theological triple play and purity.

Paul essentially tells the people that our sexuality and the sexual distractions play a large role in our sanctification process. What we do or don’t look at and act upon in the area of purity will directly relate to our ability to be more like Jesus. In other words, if we say (or sing) that we want to be more like Jesus we really ought to pay special attention to this specific area!

Books, films, music, TV, billboards, emails, websites and life are all throwing sex and sexuality at us from every angle. The simple, yet direct instruction I gave on Sunday was this: Stop it! Stop engaging in it. If you’ve trusted in Christ and are having an affair stop! If you love Jesus and are looking at porn, quit it! If you’re watching that or reading this and it’s causing you to lust, stop it!

But please hear this: his grace is enough! You’re not defined by those things that you must stop. If you’ve trusted in Jesus you’re now declared righteous. But as a child of the most High God, seek the help that you need. You can’t do it on your own. The world tells you to run, shun and shame, but God has sent the Rescuer, who is running to you and has already bore your shame. He desires for you to enter into real relationship with brothers or sisters who can help! Call that friend. Ask that pastor. Seek out the relative who is waiting to help you.

For the sake of your family. For the benefit of your marriage. For the betterment of your family and for the increase in the kingdom, make sexual purity part of the sanctifying work of Christ in your life!

Grace,

Brian

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Filed under Faith Foundations/Bible Study, Freebies, Home and Ministry, Random/Rant

by Brian Aaby | January 1, 2013 · 12:01 am

The Stuff of 2013

2013…

A new look for the blog (have done this the last couple years).
Weigh less at the end of the year than I did at the beginning (accomplished that in 2012).
Blog more in 2013 than in 2012.
Publish a few books (a few of my own and few from others).
Share meals, not just yard conversations, with neighbors.
Log more miles on my bike than I did in 2012.
13 pre-planned dates with Elisabeth (a gift I gave her at Christmas).
Park my car in the garage all year (clear the clutter).
Do one major house or yard project (likely our deck).
Get to at least one new state or country.
Read all of the Bible (it’s been a couple years since I did this in a year).
Solo-date each month with each of my kids.
Talk to and about Jesus. A lot.

Grace,

Brian

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Filed under Aaby Family, Dare 2 Share, Faith Foundations/Bible Study, Feeling Friendly, Freebies, Gospel Conversations, Home and Ministry, Mission51, Random/Rant, Student Ministry Stuff (SMS), Travel, Youthmark Stuff

by Brian Aaby | December 19, 2012 · 10:16 am

Five Questions That May Change Your Ministry

I had the privilege of coaching a few years of high school basketball and soccer. Having grown up playing many sports, I hated halftime, it just meant time away from the competition (though I did love the orange-wedges during soccer games). But as a coach, I LOVED halftime. Not only did it provide a breather for the athletes, it gave me the opportunity to encourage and make necessary adjustments to the game-plan if needed.

As a youth pastor, I LOVED Christmas break for similar reasons. During the two week break from regular programming, I took the time to individually encourage the team (leadership team, parents, students), but I also used the time to assess the game-plan and ask some key questions.

In this post I’d like to provide you five questions that perhaps you can ask yourself… be warned, if you take the questions seriously, you just may change your ministry (and this may not be a bad thing).

If were on medical leave for two months, what would happen to the ministry?
If the way I modeled peer outreach (how you reach out to the unchurched in your age bracket) were the only example students were following, what would your student ministry look like?
If you could not repeat a single camp, retreat, mission or event from 2012 what would we do differently in 2013?
If you could not use electronic/social media in 2013, how could your ministry improve?
If you were not allowed to publicly teach (preach, give the “talk,” etc.) or lead the Bible Study, but could disciple those students, leaders and parents who were, what would the ministry look like in 2013?

My prayer for 2013 is that “youth ministry” in the US gets more personal, more creative, more relational and that students, leaders and parents discover their gifts, talents and skills and are given the opportunity to exercise these attributes! Maybe 2013 needs to be a year of risk?

Get ready, the second half is about to begin!

Grace,

Brian

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Filed under Faith Foundations/Bible Study, Mission51, Student Ministry Stuff (SMS)

Category Archives: Faith Foundations/Bible Study

Five Things You May Have Forgotten

Things That Bug Me Most About Youth Ministry

April (No) Foolin’

Social Media Reality Check- Are You Consumed?

Are you Focused?

An Open Letter to Senior Pastors

Theology, Relief Pitching and Porn

Five Questions That May Change Your Ministry

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