| Books | | Latest books we're reading:
The New Breed by Jonathan McKee - about finding and caring for the 21st century volunteer
The Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore- challenges how we think about the poor
And, this sounds weird, but Jodi Picoult has some real insight into what teens are thinking and doing. Her books, though fiction, are strikingly similar to students' real lives - check out The Tenth Circle and 19 Minutes, but beware if they were movies, they'd be rated "R".
| |  |  LOH news and youth ministry ideas for you!
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| Ministry Out of the Box by Brooke Boersma |  What would your ministry look like if you no longer had a building?
Most of us never dream of this happening, but with the current economic crisis we are beginning to think this way in our ministry. Working for a parachurch organization after being in church youth ministry for over a decade has already forced us to think differently about how we do things, but the economy has truly become a catalyst for us to literally be thinking "out of the box" - the box being our building. Recently we have been challenged to truly ponder what our ministry values are, and how we can accomplish them well with the least amount of resources possible.
And you know what? Ministry, minus the building, is possible....and often times more effective than any programming we do inside of it. For us, it means trimming down office space to one office for our administration, and one for each of us to share for work space when we need it. And we'll be sharing with another, secular, non-profit organization. This means less rent for us, and an opportunity to be in daily relationship with the other folks in the office, several of whom don't know the Lord. This also means that most of our work day will be out in the community - at the local coffee shop, the pool hall where most of the kids in town hang out, and other places where we can be visible, have conversations, and not be hidden away in an office.
For us, this means that we have to know exactly what we're about, and being able to do those things for the most part without a building. (We will still have a small hang out center for kids - this is one of the few places in our community that kids have to go after school.) It means being on campus coordinating their community service requirements and doing that service with kids rather than planning games in a building. It means doing small group at the coffee house where we'll have an opportunity to talk with and be seen by other kids too. This means hanging out at the Saturday night concerts at the pool hall, taking walks with kids, and inviting them into our home.
So, what would your ministry look like if you didn't have your "box?" Would you spend more time raising up volunteer leaders and less time writing lesson plans? Would you be on campus more and in your office less? Would you meet kids at the local hangout instead of in the church gym? You may not face that dilemma, but it might be good to consider - it could bring some creative thinking and help you to focus once again on your values in ministry. May you do ministry "out of the box", reaching new kids in new and creative ways!
|  | Fall Retreats!! |  All three fall retreats (2 in Iowa, 1 in Michigan) this year were great times for LOH students to connect with each other and their leaders, get excited about participating in the "process" and experience God in new ways. Check out the LOH facebook pages (there are several groups - one for each region) for pics!
| | Google and Youth Ministry |  Check out Google for some hot new applications. Google calendar is great for sharing schedules with others in your circles and office. Google documents are sleek for sharing with others and saving paper. Google forms are my favorite - create your own form that people can fill out online and it will automatically put the info into a spreadsheet for you as well as put together graphs and charts of the info. The possibilities for youth ministry are endless - from registering new kids, to sign up lists and med forms for trips, to surveys, as well as collaborating on talks, lesson plans, calendars, and other ministry ideas with your volunteers.
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