Category Faith Foundations/Bible Study

A Guaranteed Way To See Lives Changed

Brian Aaby Leave a comment

Here’s the guarantee: Pray WITH Youth.

I have been very encouraged by the reaction to the release of Pray21! No, I don’t believe that this book is the guarantee to changed lives, but I do know that it serves as an excellent guide for Praying WITH Youth (which does change lives). Pray21 is a simple, less-than-a-month commitment between a teen and an adult mentor.

The guarantee is that Praying WITH Youth will change lives — the lives of both the teen and the mentor.

Take just a second to think of the effects it’ll have on a teen:

  • he/she will feel cared for and supported
  • he/she will discover gifts and abilities
  • he/she will learn from God’s word
  • he/she will have a sense of being a part of the greater body (not just youth group)
  • he/she will likely gain encouragement that is so desperately needed in his/her life

How about the effect it’ll have on the adults/church:

  • We will have a greater connection with the next generation
  • We will be reminded that teens are far more capable than what most think they are able to accomplish.
  • We will have a greater sense of our calling and influence
  • We will see that 1 Corinthians 12 is true (one body, many parts, all needed)
  • We will likely gain a lifelong friend

“Pray21 has made a bigger impact on our congregation than any other thing we’ve done together” Dave Lind, Senior Pastor, Calvary Bible Church, Rutland, VT

I know I want to see permanent changes in my own life and in the lives around me. Changes that lead me closer to the thoughts and actions of Jesus. Prayer is what will fuel these changes. Praying WITH a teen will change both of our lives!

So seriously, what would prevent you and your church from doing Pray21?

Grace,
Brian

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT: Pray21 The Re-Release!

Brian Aaby Leave a comment

This is very, very exciting!

Youthmark has moved into the Publishing Realm!

Over the last few years I’ve been honored to be published by Spire-Resources, well, as of tonight, Youthmark officially moved into the publishing market with the official release of Pray21.

Chair drop (freebie) at the NYWC

Youthmark has given away close to 2000 copies of this book TONIGHT at the Youth Specialties National Youth Workers Convention (NYWC).

As I stated earlier, this is very exciting because this title fits EXACTLY in line with my blogpost about Trusting Teens. I believe this book will do much much in our endeavor to see students lead the cause of Christ. But here’s the equation I want to introduce:

WITH > FOR

That is, WITH is greater than for.

Praying WITH Youth will change your church. Your community. Our culture.

Students are ready to lead the cause of Christ. But they need the prayers, they need the encouragement. They need the mentoring of adults. They need to be trusted to lead and the humility to be led by a trusted mentor! Prayer will fuel this movement! Student Led, Adult Mentored Ministry!

It starts by getting congregations to believe in teens enough to pray not just for, but WITH students!

Check it out at Pray21.com and get your youth group, school or club involved. Pray WITH Youth!

Grace,
Brian

Do You Trust Teens?

Brian Aaby 8 Comments

I don’t get it…

  • One scored six goals in a world cup game.
  • They’ve written world famous operas, inspired nations to battle victories and created the social networking phenomenon.
  • In athletics we’ve seen total dominance from some of them– a Heisman trophy winner, a Daytona 500 driver and one was arguably the best gymnast ever.

I’m talking about teens.

  • Educators push them to take AP Physics and Calculus.
  • They hold down jobs and we trust them to watch after our own children.
  • They create art, perform, bake, dance and defend our nation.

But in the church…

  • We ask them to listen to us (Sunday morning, mid-week and in small group).
  • We buy them endless amounts of pizza in the hopes they’ll come back.
  • We beg them to bring a friend to the camp that we planned for them.
  • We tell them to sit still while the Pastors and adults speak at them.
  • We tell them they are the next generation of leaders, but give them little to lead.

It’s time we (the church) take the governor off their accelerator!

Jesus gathered a group of ordinary young adults (most of them teens), mentored them and entrusted them to start the church.

Student Led, Adult Mentored (SLAM) Ministry.

This phrase causes angst among many. Some read student led and become anxious, they fear chaos will ensue. Others read it and are threatened “but how will I use my gifts?” Even teens may read it and have their doubts, “I’m too young, I don’t need more on my plate!”

But we’re only reading half of the phrase, we cannot forget the adult mentored part of the statement.

There’s nothing new under the sun. About a year ago I came up with this phrase ‘Student Led, Adult Mentored’ (SLAM) Ministry, but it is a concept that has been practiced for many many years. As already stated, it was what Jesus did, but it was also the way the very first youth ministry organization was started in 1881 (Christian Endeavor International) when a group of teens were challenged by an adult mentor (Francis Clark) to live daily for Christ and lead his cause!

Over the course of the next year with teens playing the key role, Youthmark, Christian Endeavor and a few others organizations and individuals are going to role out some game-changers in student ministry. We want to go back to the beginning where Jesus asked a group of teens if he could “teach them how to fish for souls?”

Students are ready, capable and already leading in so many other realms, it is time (again) for the church to give them room to operate and mentors to come alongside them!  

Grace,
Brian

Don’t wait, the first initiative is out for this movement. Go to Pray21.com and begin this thing with praying WITH teens!

Urgent Message To Pastors & Elders

Brian Aaby Leave a comment

You may have faith, but do you have a faith that anticipates a great work of God?

Your church may have a Youth Ministry program, but are you anticipating God to do a great work through the people that make up that program?

You may hope for revival, but are you willing to challenge your congregation to pray and anticipate that revival for 31 straight days?

“The work has been chiefly amongst the young; . . . few others have been made partakers of it. And indeed it has commonly been so, when God has begun any great work for the revival of his church; he has taken the young people, and has cast off the old and stiff-necked generation.”  ~ Jonathan Edwards, commenting on the First Great Awakening

Elders at our church gifted each family with Pray31

On Monday, October 1, 2012 our church and thousands of churches around the nation will begin Pray31, a one-month, (& approximate) five minute per day, prayer initiative that focuses on praying for our nation. This is not political, it is spiritual. Elected officials will legislate laws that may or may not help the nation look more ethical/moral, but it is only God who can change hearts.

I was recently interviewed by Tim Eldred, the National Spokesperson for Pray31. I am excited about this initiative and we stand together   in hope that God, through Pray31, will unite the hearts of Christians across this country. As a result, I believe we will even then begin to see God at work through the lives of our young adults/teens! To that end, I’m equally excited about something that we (Youthmark) will release very soon (hinted at in the video)!

 

It’s not too late to get involved. Click here and order enough prayer atlases for your church. If you order early this week you’ll be able to pass them out this next Sunday so your church can begin next Monday, October 1!

What’s stopping you? Let’s anticipate God together!

Grace,
Brian

 

Preparing To Imprint

Brian Aaby 2 Comments

I just returned from a fantastic four day trip to Arizona, where I teamed with friend, Timothy Eldred, to train Scottsdale Christian Academy students and staff for more than a mission! In fact, it was the first of a couple beta-tests for the upcoming launch of a movement we are anticipating entitled,  Imprint the Planet.

Scottsdale Christian High School is once again contracting with Youthmark for their missions program and we’re thrilled to help them with their 13-15 mission ventures for 2013, but even more exciting to me is seeing students (and staff) fired up to make a difference not just there but here as well.

This week we were able to see students STEP out in faith, RISK in relationship and return to their campus, club, community and churches prepared to LEAD together! I can’t wait to take the next steps for ITP with a local church retreat in a few weeks!

I am praising God for the many who risked in huge ways by seeking help in areas of brokenness as they began to understand grace in a new or renewed way. I’m pumped about seeing several students take leaps of faith in just a short 3-day time period. In addition I am thankful for the adults/teachers who honestly want to see Student Led, Adult Mentored (SLAM) take place!

Please pray for SCA and my friend Kevin Meyers (Teacher/Spiritual Life Director at SCA) as students return for their 2012-2013 school year and for the many who will take serious the call to Imprint the Planet! 

As Imprint the Planet goes through a few adjustments before it officially launches (soon), my prayer is that God would prepare this generation of students/young adults to be unleashed to use their gifts, skills, minds, relationships and voices to make an eternal Imprint on this planet– all for God’s glory!

Keep up with us at @imprintplanet (twitter) and here on Facebook to get the updates and news first!

Grace,
Brian

Addition links on Twitter you should consider:

@brianaaby and @timothyeldred

 

What We’ve Gotten Away From…

Brian Aaby 6 Comments

I’ve been involved with in Youth Ministry for just about 20 years now. Though there have been many tweaks and occasional shifts away from the norm, the typical youth ministry program has included some form of  hang time, game time, worship time and teaching (“talk”) time. These four elements are about a predictable as my desire for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert!

Our youth ministry forefathers formed something that we’ve had a hard time re-inventing (and to be honest, may not be the primary area in need of an overhaul). I believe the real change in youth ministry doesn’t have anything to do with re-envisioning our mid-week programming, but an examination of some key things I believe youth pastors/leaders have gotten away from in the greater landscape of student ministry.

  1. We’ve Gotten Away From The Campus. Most youth pastors haven’t even attempted to get on the public (or private) school campus. I hear them say “the campus is closed” yet they haven’t once made an effort with the administration of the said “closed” campus. I am telling you, I have NEVER been turned down by the admin to be a volunteer on campus. Be smart, don’t look at your time on campus as a time to proselytize, rather as a time to serve the school, the teachers, the administration and to build relationship with anyone God brings you in contact with. Just being present (even just an hour a week) will pay large dividends and build major trust! It will bring a whole new ownership when attending games, musicals, concerts and award banquets.
  2. We’ve Gotten Away From Evangelism. A “discipleship-first” model is honestly the safe choice. Parents are quite happy that you’re providing a “safe” place for their child(ren) to participate in ministry. Service-based trips where we work with our hands building, cleaning, painting and serving meals are now called “mission trips.” I am a big proponent of service, it often creates an entry point into spiritual conversation, but I believe we’ve gotten away from sharing the gospel with our WORDS! I think youth missions can/should include evangelism opportunities because it is an extension of what we’re doing at home as well (what we call “Mission51” at Youthmark). I believe youth leaders (and parents) have allowed youth ministry to turn away from evangelism because we’re typically not involved with it in our own peer-community. It’s hard to teach what we’re not doing. What if evangelism and discipleship were not mutually exclusive? What if youth leaders, pastors and parents began to model discipleship that included evangelism first?
  3. We’ve Gotten Away From The Gospel! This may sound a lot like the last, but I believe student ministry as a whole has gotten away from sharing the gospel and settled for a “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life”-message. The gospel is good news, in order to have good news, there must be bad news as well. This “bad news” is HORRIBLE news. Without Jesus there is no hope. No hope is hell (bad news)! Many of our programs talk about the bible, Jesus, prayer and accountability without talking about the “why” we need these things. A failure to share about the wonderful grace of God actually leads our followers down the path of works-righteousness. Students begin to “work” on the practices of faith without actually having grace-based faith.
I want to be part of a solution, not just point out what I see as some of the problems. So, I have a few suggestions for myself and other youth leaders (or pastors).
  • Start with prayer: pray for your own heart response and examine whether or or not these things are true of you and your ministry. Ask God for a peer-level harvest field for you to work in (so many youth leaders don’t even have non-Christian friends). Pray and ask for prayer. I believe your prayer will lead you to care and then your care will lead you to share!
  • Make contact today: Get up, drive to the local middle school or high school or make an appointment with the administration and simply ask the question “how can I serve this school… how can I help?” Don’t abuse the privilege to be there, keep the campus options available to other Christians by being a smart missionary if given the opportunity to serve the school. Your present on campus (or campuses) will lead you to opportunities to experience the harvest field.
  • Share the gospel in youth group! Don’t assume that even your core-students know and understand that gospel. Be clear in your presentation of the gospel. Always include the need for salvation (because of sin), Jesus’ life, death, burial and resurrection. As you share this more and more not only will it permeate your other conversations, but as more for your group place their trust in Christ, it’ll permeate their conversations outside of your group!
May your hang time, game time, worship time and message time  be an extension of everything that is taking place outside of your program! I’m ready to see us get back to some of the things we may have moved away from.
Grace,
Brian

SMS: Back from Mission, Camp or Retreat? Now What?

Brian Aaby Leave a comment

NOTE: This article/blog was originally written by me for youthworkers.net (click here to read it there).

I’ve read some amazing stories on blogs and Facebook of the things God has done at camps, retreats and on mission trips this summer! I believe youth ministry is alive and kicking and God is at work, but was it just there (on the trip) that the Lord moved? Of course not, but for some reason growth and change there seems more obvious, practical and tangible. I’d love to see these things here (at home) become just as evident.

Imagine with me some of the first century Tweets we might have read had the technology existed then …

From Luke: As @saulpaul was preaching I saw a snoozing teen @eutychusrocks fall from 2nd floor 2 his death! PTL the dude was healed and now lives! #paulkeptpreaching

A ReTweet: RT @weddingcrasher Just saw the strangest thing, Mary’s son Jesus changes water into the best wine I ever tasted! #whoisthisguy

Of course a status update didn’t happen in real time back then, but rest assured, news did travel quickly. Praise God for people like Luke and John who recorded these amazing acts.

The wonderful reports of what took place on your mission trip have landed on the hearts and ears of parents and friends back home. Students have Tweeted about how great the camp was and they have become fast-Facebook friends with those they met at the retreat.  But is that it?

How are you handling the transition off of the trip and into the next 51 weeks? This is a question I grappled with as a youth pastor. I got tired of students living for the “camp high” or the “mission trip great feeling.” But the bottom line is that those feelings produced are the things that often bring kudos from parents, other pastors and/or the board.

I believe a plan is needed to merge your students onto the freeway of life that has been flowing back home. We can help students navigate from commitment there to commitment here.

Three Tips for Merging Back Home

  1. Give them a Practical Way to Remain In The Word! I believe God’s Word and God’s Spirit were key in the things that took place there. Hopefully your group was consistent in God’s Word on your mission trips; the Bible was teaching and challenging students, life was lived together in fellowship, service and witness; and students were responding to the Spirit in obedience: crucial components for life-change were merging together in amazing ways. And it doesn’t have to stop when your kids come home! Give them a practical way to remain the Word. I’ve seen it work, through our MERGE resources for returning home from the mission, retreat or camp (or other experiences). Of course I’d love to see you use our resource, but at minimum, give them a one or two week outline of passages to study, journaling questions and some practical questions to go through as they merge back home.
  2. Throw a Better Than A Reunion Party! There’s nothing that can kill a youth group faster than a holy huddle. Because your students who were at camp together came home with great inside jokes and other shared memories they usually think that these stories are funny to all, but we all know THEY AREN’T! As the leader, you should throw a “Summer End Celebration” to celebrate all that God did in and through the ministry as a whole, not just one specific event. Give ample opportunity for stories from those who went to sports camp (rather than the youth group camp), or those who shared Jesus at their summer jobs, for instance.  Invite them to share their stories of what God did in and through them, in their varied settings. This can be organized with specific testimonies chosen so that all participants can see and hear the collective work of God through the summer!
  3. Invite them to the next Mission! A body of water like a lake or pond becomes toxic when it becomes stagnant. So it is with a body of believers. The camp, retreat and mission were exciting and active because there was movement! The mission-high ceases to exist if the mission is complete. Help students to know that there is a new mission ahead as they return to their campus, engage in their clubs and reinvest in the community! This is something we at Youthmark coined Mission51–the 51 weeks beyond the mission or camp!

As summer comes to a close, perhaps you already sense that the momentum has been lost, but I urge you to jump back in now, it’s not too late! Your students are cause-oriented, give them a cause greater than reliving memories. Challenge them to get back (and stay) in the Word through something like MERGE, reunite them so they can testify and remember His faithfulness, and above all, invite them to fully invest in their new mission field at home!

Grace,

Brian

Worth more than $5!

Brian Aaby Leave a comment

I’m finishing up another week of speaking at a camp; this time in my beautiful home state of WA! It’s nice to not have to go “over there” to share the best news ever. Sometimes “over there” is a lot of fun, but I’ll tell you, it’s a lot of fun to be sharing with teens right now who get to share “right here” with their friends and family!

In a few short weeks, teens will be heading back to their “mission” on their campus, at their clubs, building into their community and probably participating in the new programs at their church… I am praying RIGHT NOW for this mission.

However, I am not just praying, I am doing my part to actively train them (and I hope even more importantly, participating with them by pursuing any opportunity I have to share the good news too)!

If you are in the Northwest, I’d love to have you participate with me in a training event we have at Youthmark. It’s not just a training event, it’s a concert  and also will have a time of wonderful worship through song! My friends, Everfound, will be there as well as soon-to-be-friends, Kye-Kye! I can’t wait. LIFT takes place in just one week (Wednesday, August 17, 7:00 PM) at Faith Church in Kent. It’s only $5!

Here’s the promo materials.

Whether you’re young or old, this event will entertain and equip! Mission51 exists, let’s reach our community now!

Grace,
Brian

Specific Prayer Partners!

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

Hey Friends!

We have these really cool blogs going on over at youthmark.com.  Just yesterday I shot an email to all the participating youth groups for the 2011 YMV’s. In that email I stated that the biggest mistake that Youth Pastors admit to after a YMV experience is not soliciting prayer early enough or often enough! Even now, only about 1/3 of the teams are blogging, let’s pray them onto here!

I don’t want to make that same mistake of not soliciting prayer!

This blog post is a unique one, it is a call for prayer (right now) but beyond that a call for prayer-partnership for those who would like to carry us through any of the areas listed below. If you want to “partner” please comment on this post. I will then be able to email you anything specifically because email addresses can be seen by me for anyone who comments.

Here are the things I am looking for prayer partners:

  1. San Diego area Spring Retreat (April 15/16)
  2. Denver area Spring Retreat (April 29/30)
  3. Seattle area Spring Retreat #1 (May 6/7)
  4. Seattle area Spring Retreat #2 (May 13/14)
  5. Portland area Spring Retreat (May 20/21)
  6. Prayer partners for Joe Poppino (worship leader)
  7. Prayer partners for The Admission (the band launching out of these retreats and co-leading with Joe)
  8. Prayer partners for the 40 or so Youth Groups training through the spring for Mission51 (and a mission trip this summer)
  9. Prayer partners for me specifically and the teaching done at these retreats
  10. Prayer partner for my family specifically and the great times I have with them before and between each of the training times!

Would love to see all 10 of these areas “partnered” and perhaps even more than one parter on each!  Any takers?

Grace,
Brian