Tag Archive - youth ministry

Connecting Word To World

May 19, 2012 in culture with 0 Comments

Graham Stanton has written a great chapter – Connecting Word To World – in Youth Ministry on the Front Foot. The chapter is seeking to counter the errors “…that all we need to know is what the Bible says and culture is unimportant, or, that we must be culturally relevant above all else.” The challenge is to let the Word of God help you to understand the world in which we live and minister.

We used the chapter as a training paper at a recent SOULIES Team Meeting. Our leaders found it a really useful exercise. Here’s what we did:

  1. Read the chapter
  2. Discussed where our youth ministry is on the spectrum of word to world (0 = word only, 10 = world only)
  3. Shared ways in which we are engaging well culturally
  4. Using 3 cultural touch points (KONY 2012, The Hunger Games, Peer Pressure) we brainstormed ways in which the word helps us to understand each of them. This final step was really useful. You can see some of our ideas on the whiteboard, but it was more about the process rather than any conclusive answers.

Find out how to buy the book etc here

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Fervr Wins a Webby!

May 2, 2012 in design with 0 Comments

Massive congrats to the crew from Youthworks and all the peeps that help to keep FERVR.NET online. They’ve just won a webby. I think that’s a big deal!!

If you haven’t checked them out before, go. They claim to be the “Number 1 Christian Youth Website” – now they can officially claim the number 1 Religious and Spirituality website on all the interwebs! Well done.

Involved in youth ministry? Get your crew on there…

GROUP GAMES // iPhone App Giveaway!

April 29, 2012 in design with 6 Comments

My mate Calum Henderson has just created his first iPhone App. It’s a really well designed and functional app showcasing over 100 group games. I really like the different ways you are able to sort through the catalogue. A great resource for anyone involved in Youth Ministry.

Calum has given me 2 codes for free downloads of the app. Do you want them? Leave a comment below. The first two win. Simple.

If you don’t win? He has an introductory price of only $0.99 anyway, so it probably won’t break the bank. Download it now.

Had a play with it? What did you think? What’s your favourite youth group game?

Soulies Term 2 Bumper Vid

April 28, 2012 in design with 0 Comments

soulies.net

THE GREEN DOOR – New Soulies News Vid

April 27, 2012 in Jesus with 0 Comments

SOULIES @ KYCK 2012

April 26, 2012 in Jesus with 0 Comments

Soulies Youth Community had a killer time at KYCK this past weekend! We camped onsite, it didn’t rain! Andy, Nat, Bel, Michelle + Nick from St Faith’s Night Church served us by cooking up some sweeeeet food. St Paul’s Castle Hill band CITY SURRENDER were tight, energetic and encouraging as they lead 2200+ young punks in song. Finally, Malcolm Gill and Sam Chan gave, in my opinion, the best series of talks I’ve heard at KYCK. Solid, intertwined, bold, biblical and engaging.

See below for more pics, and tweet summaries of each talk:
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SOULIES UNDERGROUND 2

April 5, 2012 in Jesus with 0 Comments

We’re doing it again this year. Read about last year’s one. Watch last year’s one.

Read a bit about this year’s one here or on souliesunderground.com

We will also be attempting to live stream it from 7pm (Sydney time) Thursday 5th April.

TRINITY GRAMMAR EASTER MISSION

April 4, 2012 in Jesus with 2 Comments

Over the past 2 days I preached 7 times at Trinity Grammar (in Sydney’s Inner-West) for their Easter Mission. Tiring but worth it. I spoke on the Rich Ruler from Luke 18:18-30, it was impossible for him to do anything to inherit eternal life. How is it possible for anyone to inherit eternal life? Through trusting in what Jesus has done to make the impossible possible, Luke 18:31-34. Peeps were challenged and heard the truth of Jesus.

I was really impressed with the chaplains at the school and the way in which staff in general supported the mission. It was compulsory for all high school students to attend the program. But we also had a good number of new students come along voluntarily to the lunch time Christian group. I spoke on Luke 18:9-14 and urged people to respond to Jesus by saying “have mercy on me, a sinner”. There are some solid Christian students in the school, and I’m praying that they will keep reaching out to their often hard-hearted peers with the good news of Jesus.

Here is the runsheet:

Student leader welcomes
Chasing Light played 2 songs
Speaker interview
Spoken Word vid: Why I hate religion, but love Jesus
Student bible reader
Talk
Film Clip: ‘My Prayer’ by Chasing Light
Chasing Light played 3 songs
Student leader outro and invitation to lunch group

Chasing Light were loud, energetic, engaging and good at pointing young crew to Jesus. It was great to work with them. Their film clip ‘My Prayer’ (above) tied in really well off the back of the talk.

See below for another song of theirs and the Jeff Bethke ‘Jesus>Religion’ vid.
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5 Ideas for One Verse Evangelistic Preaching

February 21, 2012 in Jesus with 0 Comments

For the final week of Mission Month at SOULIES we have each year group running a BREAK IT DOWN event (your year group, your friends, doing your thing). Here are some ideas I’m passing on to leaders for preaching short evangelistic talks to their crew.

While it’s not the only approach, preaching from one verse can be a memorable way to give a short talk encouraging people to consider Jesus. It’s worth spending time understanding the verse in its context first and then working hard to explain the ideas that the verse presents.

Here is a useful method for preparing Bible talks

See below for 5 verses packed with gospel punch. I’ve got a few ideas under each passage on possible ways you could package a talk. I don’t have any illustration ideas, or intro/hooks. If you’re preparing a talk, let me know if you need any further ideas or feedback. Preach Jesus.

See below for verses and ideas:
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Mission Month: It’s All About Jesus

February 21, 2012 in Jesus with 8 Comments

This year in SOULIES Youth Community we are kicking off term 1 and term 3 with a ‘Mission Month’. My hope is that the young punks in our community are happy to invite friends along any week of Soulies, and they do. But the thinking with the Mission Month is to give some explicit opportunities to bring friends to hear about Jesus. Hopefully that will then create some momentum that will continue on. Here’s the promo postcard:

I think it has been well received. Praise God for those who have responded to the gospel over the first 3 weeks!!

Here’s the promo vid for Feb.

Involved in youth ministry? In what ways are you seeking to encourage young punks to share Jesus this year?

1000 bonus points if you can name the beach in the photo…

Click here for other youth ministry posts.

Mission Night // Worship // Hip Hop // Jesus

February 18, 2012 in Jesus with 1 Comment

Lots of action in Manly at the moment with the Australian Open of Surfing. Soulies had a sweet night at St Matt’s Manly last night with other youth groups from around the Northern Beaches. Dave Hanbury & band with solid worship set. D-Cype breaking it down with some phat beats and Trinitarian rhymes. Mike Doyle preaching Jesus to over 500+ young punks.

More pics and vids below:
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SOULIES Mission Month Bumper Vid

February 16, 2012 in Jesus with 3 Comments

SOULIES Summercamp 2012 Highlights Vid

February 16, 2012 in Jesus with 0 Comments

Interested in youth ministry?

February 13, 2012 in Jesus with 12 Comments

I’m keen to write more frequently on Youth Ministry related topics. Last year I began writing some papers, but couldn’t sustain them. I think I’m ready to share a bit more in the way of strategy and youth ministry thinking. Are you involved in youth ministry? What type of posts would you find helpful? I’ve got some blog drafts ready, but keen for input.

The above pic is from SOULIES Summercamp.

We Are The Outpost – AWAKEN – EP

February 9, 2012 in culture with 10 Comments

We Are The Outpost have just launched a killer EP, AWAKEN. It’s seriously good, I’ve had it on repeat for the last week! Jesus-centred lyrics, solid tunes, well produced. The band was birthed out of the youth ministry of MBM Rooty Hill (Western Sydney, Australia).

BUY IT NOW ON ITUNES

I dig all 4 tracks, but the stand outs for me are 1 & 2.

(1) Anchored Hope – I was told by one of the younger guys at church that this song had a post-hardcore feel. I’m not sure what that means, but I guess it’s good! This song is jam packed with goodness from the New Testament book of Hebrews. The song begins with “burn your white flags, look up ahead” (this refrain is then repeated at the end). The idea of burning your white flag is all about not surrendering, not giving up, continuing to persevere and trust in Jesus until the end. This song will definitely be put on the playlist at SOULIES. It’s also got a good beat for exercise and running!

(2) Hallowed – Cliff Richard did an okay job back in 1999 with his Millennium Prayer hit in getting the words of The Lord’s Payer stuck in your head. We Are The Outpost do a much better job! I would love it if youth ministries all over the place got the words of The Lord’s Prayer stuck in their head through Hallowed. It’s got a little bit of a The Temper Trap feel to it. Tidy work.

If you’re part of making music happen in your youth ministry/church – get into this gear! If you’re not, get into it anyway – it will be good for your soul.

BUY IT NOW ON ITUNES

Props to Matt Sparks for running a sweet youth ministry. And BIG props to Steve Vassallo for writing & producing this EP and for his ongoing work with the band.

Youth Ministry on the Front Foot

February 8, 2012 in Jesus with 8 Comments

Youthworks have recently launched a brand new youth leadership book, Youth Ministry on the Front Foot. I have a chapter in there… but don’t let that stop you getting a copy!! I haven’t read it in its final form, but am looking forward to gleaning wisdom from the experienced youth pastors who contributed. Intro blurbs etc below.

READ A SAMPLE OR BUY IT NOW

Youth are our future, right?

No! The future of our youth lies in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The truth is, the youth of any generation need to hear and accept this gospel! Youth Ministry on the Front Foot tackles the unique opportunities and challenges of ministry to this age group through the wisdom of experienced youth ministers with a passion for seeing teenagers come to Christ. The biblical principles and practical advice in these pages on key issues such as social media, discipling and leader accountability are ideal for youth ministers, church leaders and anyone interested in youth ministry. Application guides in each chapter also contain helpful questions, checklists and diagrams for your youth ministry context.

Contributors: Mike Everett, Eugene Hor, Cameron Hyslop, Ron Irving, Sarah Macken, Jodie McNeill, Dave Miers, Ken D Noakes, Murray Norman, Scott Petty, Graham Stanton, Zac Veron (series editor) & Kylie Williams

READ A SAMPLE OR BUY IT NOW

Click below for Endorsements…
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Soulies Youth Community – New Logo

January 21, 2012 in design with 3 Comments

Here is the new Soulies logo. I like it. Props to Fi for helping make it happen!

Staying Hip

January 11, 2012 in culture with 0 Comments

Youth Ministry blog posts have been fairly sporadic over the past month. Stay tuned for some fresh gear in 2012. In the meantime this vid will help you stay hip with young punks ;)

See more Dear Jeffery Dallas vids.

We’re launching a new camp in January

November 14, 2011 in Jesus with 0 Comments

Bring. It. On. soulies.net/summercamp

Video Bible Reading

November 5, 2011 in Jesus with 9 Comments

Check out the following two vids from my mate Matt Sparks and MBM Youth. They’ve started producing video Bible readings. The public reading of scripture ought to be central to our Christian gatherings. Some might argue differently, but I think that the videos actually help to show the significance of the Bible. What do you think?

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