Help for Young Life Leaders NOW

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but this blog has been a huge encouragement to me and others. I’ve been able to connect with other leaders, and also develop friendships with people all over the world. Some YL people, some friends of YL, some that are not involved in YL. If you don’t read blogs or even know what RSS is, you should find out. I look at it like a free customized magazine subscription that I can read everyday on my favorite topics. Think of ESPN the magazine + Christianity Today + Relevant Magazine + Theology Nerdy Stuff + Business Magazines all together and better.

YLHelp.com started in February 2008, and I hope the first full school year of it will enable it to be a useful resource for others. I also hope that you will write posts and contribute ideas through comments too. It is OUR tool.

We have had such a hard time with campaigners over the years. With the busyness of kids and leaders it is so hard to get another night out of them. I know lots of clubs fight through this and win (even the club right down the street from us). Yet, we have lost over and over.

This year we moved to having club at a local restaurant that offers half-price appetizers and has a cool atmosphere. We spend $10-20 per week and the kids chip in too. This has allowed us to keep a consistent meeting time and the cool atmosphere helps. We even built a positive relationship with many of the people who work there.

The downsides are the lack of depth that is hindered by the environment, also no worship and then Mondays are crazy for everyone. It also makes it hard to pick up kids and really be ready for club.

So in review, we knew the downsides to our campaigner plan, but at least it was a consistent place to meet and do a Bible study.

Any ideas on how to add another night or morning (tried that too) successfully?

This year we started an official campus club. There are a couple reasons why. First, official campus clubs can use the facilities free, that help a ton. Next, this allows us to be on campus more and even do announcements. It also allows us to be at things like freshman orientation. Also, it allows us to give a formal name to the incredible leadership efforts our students put in (i.e. we have a president, vice president, etc, though we don’t mention it much, it might help their college resumes).

I was hesitant and careful about how we use this tool. First, it is student initiated. Also, the official club portion represents only the lunch meetings. We do not promote after school events through the announcements. So what we have settled on is a once a month meeting at lunch with our club kids to play a game or show a video of camp, and then talk about our plans for the next month and how the kids can be involved. Through this we have planned a couple student-led clubs.

I think we really are in the first stages of using this tool effectively. In fact, if you have any ideas, let us know.

This year I completed a Master of Divinity degree. It took a lot. A lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of reading, a lot of writing, a lot from my family, a lot of everything. Yet, it was all worth it.

I was rather serious ,even before seminary, that we all need to dig deep in our faith and really understand it. My quest began when I would come home from WL club and think, "what is it that we really are asking them to do?" Then, as years went by, kids and leaders would come to me with great questions that showed me that I needed to study more.

I’m not suggesting everyone needs to go to seminary. What I am suggesting is that we need to keep digging deeper. Don’t stay on the surface level of the Bible and theology. As leaders we need to know why we believe what we do (or maybe figure out what you do believe).

Sometimes YL can be viewed as a "simplistic" or "shallow" ministry. This is the farthest thing from the truth, I can attest to that from a theological position from my training. Yet, sometimes I think our leaders can be tempted to hide behind our relational strengths rather than digging deeper. So my encouragement is to dig deeper. Read, study, listen to podcasts, take a class at your church, etc. If you need suggestions I’d be happy to point you in the right direction.