Going Slow with Dr. Low

How's Your Umbrella?

I was chatting with a friend this week about creating more harmony, balance and abundance in our life and the image of an umbrella came up.  My friend and I playfully explored this analogy and pictured the many parts of an umbrella and what they represented as holding up the canopy of our lives.  We talked about the stretchers and how we need many of them to hold up the canopy.  Not only do we need many of them but they need to be in equal balance and equal strength otherwise the canopy will collapse and we are no longer protected from the rain.

My friend and I mused about the many stretchers we have ranging from disciplines to hobbies to friends and other things that hold up our canopy.  We then identified the runner and top spring as the center pieces that actually hold everything up - for me that would be my faith and belief system.  We also talked about the need for our canopy to be flexible because the wind and rain often change direction so we need to be able to angle our umbrellas differently otherwise they do not serve their purpose and even, if angled wrong, can be torn open by the wind, broken and blown away.

Of course umbrellas are completely useless, no matter how full and balanced, if there's nothing to hold onto - the handle and shaft.  For me this is God the Father.  While I may choose to create my umbrella with certain components it is ultimately God who connects me to all of it.  God is at the center holding it all together and giving the whole thing purpose and shape.

What does your umbrella look like and how is your umbrella doing?  Are the stretchers strong, balanced and holding up a beautiful canopy over your life?  Is that canopy serving its purpose or it is ripping, tearing or blowing away in the wrong direction?  And how connected are you to the One who holds it altogether?  Something to think about...

Clarifying Expectations

I firmly believe that the biggest source of conflict in ministry is unclear expectations.  When expectations aren't clarified, it leads to confusion, hurt, miscommunication, and distrust.

There are countless stories of youth minsters doing their best, but not necessarily doing with their pastors or church leadership want them to.  All because the expectations were never articulated.

Here's a quick story of how my wife Gail and I didn't have clear expectations of each other with respect to household chores and general disposition.  Gail's "list" for me ultimately strengthened our marriage!




Clayton Imoo is husband to Gail and father to sons Sean Isaiah and Jacob Isaac and daughter Kayla Marie.  He has served as the Director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver for the past ten years, helping parishes develop their own youth and young adult ministries.  When not doing ministry, Clay enjoys spending time with his family, playing music, playing sports, playing naptime, and writing blogs on topics such as family, faith, and the Vancouver Canucks.  Learn more about him at http://www.claytonimoo.com or follow him @claytonimoo

Start Something

With the fall coming up I know a lot of you have been digging into curriculum and making plans for how you are going to be doing your youth work over the next couple months.  So over the next few posts I am going cover some things I've learned from my own personal search into starting new things.  Before I do any deep dives into the things I've been reading about I want to get some recommend resources listed.


1) Start Something that Matter - By Blake Mycoskie - This is a book by the founder of TOMS shoes who goes into details on how he founded the company and the movement he is trying to start.  It is a great kick in the pants and motivator for anyone that is looking to start something new. 

2) Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh (The founder of Zappos) - This book covers Tony's creation of Zappos, how they almost failed, and what quirky approaches they took to things that ended up working.  Not ministry related directly, but there are definitely some strong elements in here that anyone involved in leading people can use.

3) Start With Why By Simon Sinek - One of the most viewed TED videos of all time is now in book form.  While it can be repetitive at times, it drives home a major point that any youth worker needs to figure out.  WHY do you do what you do? If everything you do is driven from that, then success follows.  A definite recommendation.

I know you're busy, but pick one of these books and read it.  You won't be disappointed and you'll be able to follow along better in my next few posts.

9 Warning Signs Your Volunteers Don't Feel Appreciated

Responsible and intentional student ministry in church and para-church organizations are not the sole responsibility of the lead guy or gal who is paid to love students. Yes, the lead youth worker has a significant role to play in the development of ministry culture, outreach and discipleship strategies, and mentorship models but they – YOU – can’t do it alone. In fact, any attempt to do so usually results in ineffective ministry, pastoral burnout, or the youth worker developing a Messiah-complex.

Mission and ministry never happen alone, in a relational vacuum. Youth ministry is always connected, always within the bounds of a community, always led, and always with the dedicated support of a good team around you. Your volunteers are absolutely key to your ministry!

A dream team of volunteers is not something you happen into by accident. Passionate, motivated, dedicated, trained, and deployed volunteers who are with you through hell or high water are the ones dreamt of but – for some reason – often the hardest to attract.

So I’ll give you a hint: instead of trying to attract these illusive super-volunteers, start with the ones you have. Train them. Engage with them. Love them. Give them real responsibility. Encourage them. Spend time with them. Call them on their stuff. Pray with them. And be there pastor.

In the mean time, I’ll give you a short cheat-sheet of how to know when your volunteers are feeling de-valued and under appreciated. If you catch them early, you’ll still have a chance to save your volunteers before they bail on you.

You know your volunteers do not feel appreciated if:

1. You Don’t Have Any Volunteers.

2. Your Volunteers Are Chronically Late, Don’t Show, or Leave Early. 

3. Your Volunteers Have Lots Of Excuses Why They Didn’t Show. 

4. Your Volunteers Give the Bare-Minimum to the Cause. 

5. Your Volunteers Aren’t Attracting New Volunteers. 

6. Your Volunteers Talk Trash About You or the Ministry. 

7. You Have High Volunteer Turnover. 

8. Your Volunteer Team Doesn’t Include Professionals, People Older Than You, or the Highly Educated. 

9. You Are Exceptionally Busy.

In an age where the market for available volunteers is tighter than ever and everybody – not-for-profits, churches, schools, and businesses – all want to capitalize and leverage volunteer hours for their organization, having a strategic plan for recruiting, training, deploying, and managing volunteers is a make or break. Simply, organizations with a large volunteer base grow and develop attracting more volunteers while organizations with little or poorly managed volunteers are usually on life-support.

I know who I’d rather volunteer for. What about you? What about your people? Who are they volunteering for? 

Jeremy Postal is the director of Whistler School, a bible and discipleship school based out of beautiful Whistler, BC. He is passionate about building communities of restoration & creativity with Christ as the focus. You can also catch him regularly on his blog at www.jeremypostal.com or connect via Twitter @JeremyPostal. 

Spiritual Practice of the Week:  Prayer Flags

Prayer flags come to us from the Tibetan Buddhist culture. Traditionally, prayer flags come in each of the five primary colors and have prayers and texts from the tradition written on them. Tibetans believe that prayer flags promote peace and bless the land and the people who create them. They also believe the wind catches the prayers on the flags and take them to God.  In this practice, invite youth to create their own Christian prayer flags to hang in the youth room, outside the church, or take home. You will need brightly coloured fabrics cut into 35 centimetre squares. You may choose to use the symbolic colours listed below or others.

Sew a seam on one end of each flag (leaving ends open) so that thick string or rope can be strung through. Use fabric felts, permanent markers, or fabric paint to write prayers, messages, and images on the flags. The words and images on the flags will be a blessing to all.

You may choose to leave your flags up for the year, adding to them on occasion, or you may use them only for a special evening of practice. You may want to ask for permission to hang them outside your church building or in a garden.  Ideally, a prayer flag is hung where wind and Spirit can swirl around it.

Colours and Symbols

Blue: Sky and space, stillness

White: Air and wind, movement

Red: Fire, passion, life force

Green: Green growing things, renewal

Yellow: Land, stability

© This prayer practice and all of those on the Sunday Morning Blog Post can be found in:  "Go Deep: Spiritual Practices for Youth Ministry" Wood Lake Publishing
Doris is the Youth Director for the United Church of Canada in BC.

 

Let Them Speak While You Speak

Proverbs 15:22 NLT Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success.

Interactive Public Speaking is highly effective with youth and young adults. It helps keep them engaged in the message by allowing them to participate rather than limiting them to being a spectator.

What is it?

Interactive Speaking is facilitated by the presenter with open ended questions asked to the audience allowing them opportunity to speak into the topic discussed.

The Advantages

Giving opportunities for students to share what their battles are can be therapeutic for them but it also helps you as a leader to know where they are at, and what they are facing in their school, community and home life.

Teens don’t talk but they like to talk. Teens need to talk but have no place to talk. Interactive speaking can be a safe place to talk.

How To Ask Questions

The questions must be specific. Too broad a questions is difficult to respond to as your audience will over analyze the question in search for your “correct” answer.

Example1: Why do we need friends? (Too broad, they will wonder what you are thinking) vs. What are the advantages of having a friend who cares about you at school?

There are some answers that students may be too uncomfortable to share. In those cases word the question so you receive a third person response (Ex: 2a) or word the question so that the response is undetermined it could be first person or third person response. (Ex:2b)

Example2a: What have you seen people do to gain the attention of others?

Example 2b: What have you done or seen others do to gain attention?

If a student publically shares something quite personal, maybe even painful to them, their transparency can make them quite vulnerable. Affirm them, with an interactive question that will let them know that they are not alone.

Example3: “How many others have felt that same way? Raise your hand if you too have experienced what Philip is talking about.”

You can learn so much in letting your student's speak; from the name of the video game that is out in two more sleeps, new drug terminology, new shows on MUCH TV, teen pressures, harmful games and fantastic analogies to illustrate the very point you are speaking about. Create opportunities for them to speak and participate in the truth you share. You are not the only person in the room students can learn from. Give them a chance to speak while you speak and watch them empower their peers and you.

Extra Tip’s and Hints

Hint: Keep a pen by your notes. As students share their answers write them down in your notes. When you get home, enter it into a list of examples or struggles of teens. You can use this as a resource of examples that you can apply in your next message labeled as Current Examples That Students Are Facing.

Tip: Too many interactive questions can lead to a loss of control. Once teens get talking, sometimes they don’t know how to stop.

___________________________________________

A member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS) Alison has dedicated her time to developing her gift of Public Speaking so that her listeners would believe the truth that she shares and to raise up other strong youth communicator’s in Canada. She has been speaking full time for four years and is currently enrolled in Youth Speakers University.

Speaking Tips are from Alison’s Public Speaking Enhancement Workshop for any inquires message her today. http://www.inspiringteengreatness.com

What is Success?

My friend Eric Porteous, Central Regional Director for Life Teen (a Catholic youth ministry movement), recently wrote this blog that I would like to share with you.  The original post appears here.

A few years ago, I was in a meeting with my pastor to discuss youth ministry. He was very happy with the direction we were headed and all we had accomplished, but he could sense some frustration in my voice and body language:

“Eric, I sense some frustration coming from you? What’s the matter?” he asked me.

“Well, I mean . . . things are going great. There’s no doubt about that, and I know we’ve improved a lot over the years, but I just don’t get why we don’t have more teens coming,” I responded.

Then he paused, looked at me and said something I’ll never forget:

“Eric, Jesus walked the Earth and only 33% of the world is Christian. How can you expect to do any better? God isn’t calling you to be successful. He’s calling you to be faithful.”

Boom. That was it. My pastor had just given me a spiritual roundhouse kick to my face, and it was the wake up call I needed.

For a long time I had focused so much on the numbers and all the things I was doing in ministry that I neglected to see all the ways God had been moving. To be honest, I had gained a Saviour Complex.

I thought that I was the only hope for the teens that came in my door.

I thought that if the teens did not come to my nights on a regular basis then their soul would be in jeopardy.

I thought that I had to say “yes” to everything and keep adding more and more events to reach as many teenagers as possible.

My ministry had become about me, and while my motivation may have been pure, there was one BIG problem: I’m not the Saviour.

Now that may not come as a shock to all of you, but I think it’s something many us in youth ministry struggle with. We put the weight of the teens’ salvation on our shoulders, when clearly we were not designed to hold that weight. Salvation comes from Jesus Christ, and maybe we just need to remind ourselves of that when it comes to ministry.

You know why?

You know those teens that come in your door? They can find Jesus in other places too.

You know those teens that refuse to come to your night? Their souls can still be saved.

You know what happens if you say “no” to adding one more event on your schedule? Teens can still get to heaven.

Why?

Because Jesus is the Savior, and “…for God, all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

As Youth Ministers we have a vital role to play, and God has called us all to this ministry for very specific reasons. This great responsibility requires that we work as hard as possible, but we need to change the way we look at success. Success is not about the number of teens that come, the number of events that we do, or the number of hours we spend in our office.

In ministry being successful is about being faithful.

Clayton Imoo is husband to Gail and father to sons Sean Isaiah and Jacob Isaac and daughter Kayla Marie.  He has served as the Director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver for the past ten years, helping parishes develop their own youth and young adult ministries.  When not doing ministry, Clay enjoys spending time with his family, playing music, playing sports, playing naptime, and writing blogs on topics such as family, faith, and the Vancouver Canucks.  Learn more about him at http://www.claytonimoo.com or follow him @claytonimoo