Preaching is a life giving way to affirm and to challenge students. Preaching should not be our go to method for solving problems in our youth ministry. There are problems we face both personally and professionally that require more than a message.
In building terms, if we have issues within our group such as dissension, hypocrisy, etc, a message is the dry wall, not the frame. Drywall without a frame falls flat no matter how great the quality of the drywall. The frame is the hard work we put into the relationships we have with students. We see Jesus had many monumental preaching moments, but it was the moments between those moments that made disciples. Our one on one connections with students builds the framework to put up the drywall, share the message.
We have to learn to balance our schedule. How much time are we spending on message prep and how much time are we spending on relationships. In order to see the fruit Jesus saw, we have to have more get aways with Peter, James, and John in between our Sermons From The Mount.
Have you tried to preach away, or preach your way out of a problem? How did that go?