Let me begin by saying, I am totaling ripping off the title to one of my favorite business podcasts of late called Fizzle. I must warn you though, if you listen, it will have some salty language sprinkled through-out. That being said, the podcast rocked my world in two ways.
1. It made me think about our ministry
The podcast made me think about quitting, pivoting, and persevering in ministry; and not just youth ministry but the ministry of blogging (do I do that? Let me know) or You Tube videos, or whatever I do. Ministry has many outlets and I like to take advantage of as many of them as I can. It keeps me from becoming stale.
The topic of quitting, pivoting, and persevering made me think about youth ministry programs and attitudes I need to quit. One such attitude I need to quit is creating something that’s my idea vs God’s idea. Not all good ideas are God ideas, they’re just my ideas. Whether I can create a program does not mean I should create it. I think if I would just follow the Spirit’s rhythm, the dance would go much smoother.
There are some things iI need to pivot in. Pivoting is simply a shift in a another direction. Worship is an important value of our youth ministry. We have had a band for the the past three years and now we sing to videos. To some that may look like a step back but in reality it is a pivot. We couldn’t just raise up a band. The talent pool was just not there. So, instead of just not doing worship, we do worship videos and the kids are highly engaged.
I have a retreat weekend coming up that we have tried to pull off for three years. This may go back to creating something I want vs the Spirit, but retreats are something I think students need. I tried to design the retreat to fit with the culture I live in so kids would adapt to it much easier. If this year does not work out the way i planned, I will pivot, not quit. I will change locations, model, or whatever. If that does not work out, I will just have to quit this type of retreat and do something else.
Finally, there are things I have to persevere with, or push through. Students taking leadership and ownership of their ministry is a drum I will bang loudly and often. There are times in the those programs that I will have to pivot because of the number of kids interested or not, but students leading is something I will never quit.
2. Disciple Project Ministries, The Blog
This piece you are reading is only one piece of Disciple Project Ministries. Like I said earlier, I do You Tube videos, I give away freebies, and I have my own youth ministry store. I don’t do all of these for applause or for, God forbid, money, because there isn’t any. Not for a small time blogger like me. But, I persevere. Why? Because I think I have a voice, a point of view, an opinion worth sharing, not arrogantly but gracefully.
I am deciding to pivot in my blogging, God knows I have thought about quitting, by expanding the conversations beyond just youth ministry. I feel like my writing has become myopic over the past year, and If I feel that way, then my readers may feel the same. I find Jesus and faith in a lot things, music, movies, etc. and I want to talk about those things as well and how we, believers and youth workers, can use them to surf the culture versus being drowned in it.
For those that read this regularly, and I have no idea who you are, I hope you’ll enjoy some of the changes. If not, there are plenty of other great youth ministry blogs out there to enjoy. For those who stick around, I want to have a caffeinated (stimulating) conversations about life, ministry, culture, the church, politics, and all those other things that make us human. I hope you’ll grab a large latte, double shot, and join me.
How about you, are you feeling the need to pivot, quit, or persevere in some aspect of your life or ministry?
What things do you need to quit in your ministry?
Where do you need to persevere?
Where do you need to pivot, change direction?
Leave me a comment below. I’ll choose the most caffeinated (stimulating) comment and send you a Starbucks (or whatever your favorite coffee is) voucher.
Let’s begin.