I love me bananas. Whenever my bride and I go shopping, bananas are on the list. It may surprise you but I always purchase green bananas, along with yellow bananas. The thought being that I can enjoy the ripe bananas (yellow) and then enjoy the unripened bananas (green) later in the week. Typically if you only buy yellow bananas they become “yuk” near the end of the week. Green bananas are perfectly ripen by the end of the week because they ripened through out the week.

When it comes to ministry I have always sought after “green” volunteers. People new to the church or to a particular ministry that can ripen in their faith through serving. Long term volunteers are seasoned and they help keep the ministry moving. But always be recruiting “green” volunteers, this ensures the continuation of the ministry. As soon as you stop bringing in new volunteers your ministry ceases to grow and develop. In essence having the same people continually serving can become “yuk.” Either because they burnout or become stagnant from the lack of new ideas/energy.

“Green bananas” (new volunteers) may not be ready for everything, but patience and time ensures an ideal “yellow banana” (volunteer) for your ministry.

When we got back my first night in our freshly washed sheets ignited a allergic reaction and when I awoke at 1am, freakin’ out, I discovered the trigger…laundry soap. My wife thought I was nuts, but truth was we had our normal brand but it was some enhanced version of it. That something was the source of my pain for nearly a month.

As we run our ministries  there will be times that things become ‘off’. Might be minor at first, but they can develop into situations that chip away at the health and effectiveness of  ministries. There are four type of triggers that can affect the ministry:

• Emotional- How are people doing emotionally? Sad? Hurt? Frustrated? Excited? The emotional health of your church can trigger issues on a multitude of levels- good or bad.
• Physical- Physical or environmental things can affect more people then you think. Slight changes in where things are placed or how things look can trigger a reaction from the people. Even slight changes can equate to toes being stepped on.
• Spiritual- Are you in a healthy relationship with the Lord? Are your leaders growing in the faith? Your effectiveness as a ministry is built on the spiritual health of your church leadership.
• Social- What’s happening in your community or in the lives of people outside the church? The economy or local tragedies can trigger a reaction in you church community.

Reaction, like my allergic reaction, can be annoying but they are opportunities to become more aware. When a church is moving on cruise control we sometimes drop the ball on potential triggers that can throw us off course or disturb your flow. Catching these triggers early on allow for quick correction and proactive steps to prevent a major breakout. The key here is to consistently observe and monitor your ministry for potential triggers that can generate a negative, out-of-control reaction.

• Brute Force- it is sometimes needed but it’s never a good start of something new…there will be great losses and brutality damages your ability to lead.
• Patient Transition- this is where we ‘hand hold’ and help people understand the need for change…this could be a drawn out process for a while and the possibility that the original need for change comes and goes.
• Sudden Agreement- This is strictly a God moment, an “AHA!” moment for the person adjusting through the changes. One day they are against the change, the next they are on board ready to rock.

Yesterday, a great volunteer of the church had an “AHA!” moment. It is this category of change that I prefer and desire from people I pastor to. Change is never easy. Change means giving up your mindset for someone else’s. That’s not easy. Sudden agreement is a combined category- it’s a little bit of brute force and patient transitioning; but true sudden agreement flows from outside of you…a person’s friend, another leader or even God Himself speaking into one’s life. For the leader establishing change one thing rings true…you must be ‘brutally patient’ for the people you serve. Sudden agreement is the Spirit of God truly flowing through His church. That takes you (the leader) being committed to God’s timing and not your own.

1. Final remodeling of the Children’s Zone.
2. The establishment of an effective church database (with Children’s check-in…yeah!).
3. The first step in our church’s vision to serve families (code name-“family resource center”).

I love to dream and think of new ways to reach our community and share Christ with them; but ideas die quickly for me if I do not start working on them. The biggest hurdle for a dreamer is to establish a plan that can get an idea from paper to people. For many dreamers lack this ability. A couple of thoughts on making ideas happen:

• Discuss with the team. If no one likes them then it might not be the right time. Either way, if the team is not on board then your life just got more complicated.
• The Goal. What’s the end result, what do you hope to gain or create? Ideas are not just to add work on your plate but to solve problems or tap a potential that exists.
• Milestones. Come up with actual action items, dates, times, leaders…ideas have a short lifespan, siting on it like an egg will get you nowhere.

God’s great at giving us creative ideas; we just stink at always bring these ideas to actuality. I am sure there are numerous other “pre-flight checklists” that can help get an idea off the ground and I would love to hear them.

Looking at Jesus, because he put up some awesome battles, we see that the only times Jesus battled was when someone got in the way of God’s love to another. From the adulterous women [John 8] to Peter talking Jesus out from going to the cross [Matt. 16]; when people get in the way of another’s relationship with God…Jesus battles. The issue  for dumb battles is when it becomes personal rather than spiritual. One’s ego can get in the way and cause dumb battles.

What is your “rules of engagement”? What subjects or issues do you step up and battle for? Are they righteous issues that God wants you to battle for? And remember, even when Jesus battled he did it in love for God and for others; not for the good of his ego.

Here is my take:

1) Observe and take notes- it is critical that you get the whole picture. Observe over time, quick observations can lead to misunderstanding or poor observance. Finally, take notes…not memory notes. Many times we forget what we observe, notes will help our memory.

2) Find out why- Asking questions is a part of observing but, it is critical in learning where and how to go with change. There are three reasons why things are the way they are: 1) “this is who we are” (cultural), 2) “the last person did it that way” (historic) or 3) “we always do it like that” (they don’t have a clue). Find why things are the way they are, this will help you discover where to go to.

3) Take a temperature reading- Listen to people, talk with people that will be a part of the change. Three reasons- first, people want to be heard not ignored; second, people may actually be in-line with your ideas or have better ones (in which case you have a cheerleader or potential leader); and third, the battle that you may be up against.

4) Get the team on board- Talk to the rest of the ministry staff (or in some cases, the church staff). Give them the knowledge on how to answer questions from others and how to help they can lead through the changes.

5) Move forward- Pray. Discuss (with the right people). Make a plan (complete with milestones and goals). Begin the changes (be flexible for the changes you may have to do during the process ). ‘

It is a lot, I am still processing it. I will blog about this subject for awhile- so much so, that I am making “change” a category of its own..

This is my take…it amazes me that in today’s world of internet, cars and planes we are still discovering God’s creation. I do not know what led to the discoveries in the Himalayans but, God’s creation is still able to ‘oh’ and ‘awe’ us. We might over look many amazing things in this world, even in places that you have been many times. This is my take; I have got to keep my eyes open for God’s wonders in the world. Beyond animals and nature, we need to keep our eyes open for people that we may also over look.

I received a text from Pastor Blake, my ministry supervisor, stating that he was heading out of town the next day but, wanted to connect at “8:30″ for coffee at the Starbucks (we have no offices at Gold Creek). When I recieved that text, my initial thought was 8:30pm that night…I interrupted as PM. However, after 40 minutes minutes of waiting (I used the time to call my dad and chit-chat with him….good time) I got a call from Pastor Blake saying that he meant 8:30AM the next day- my response was “Ohhhhh AM”.

You see, I use texting quite a bit. For two reasons it is quick and it allows mass communication with many people all at once. The positives far outweigh the negatives in my point of view but, after this I realized the importance of ‘clear communication’ versus ‘confusing communication’. The lesson I learned in this confusion in AM and PM is that messages are not always clear; may be clear to you but, not always to the receiver. Communication is not what’s said, it’s what’s heard. Be specific in texts and if your meeting someone always include where, when and whether it is AM/PM.

Needless to say, I connected with Pastor Blake and he payed for my grande, bold drip, no room…thanks brother!

This is a good lesson for me, that when life get’s busy you need to prioritize what is important. For me; my family, job, school took a higher priority then my blog. That was my decision. When life gets busty for you, what losses out? What wins? I have learned a phrase that has really helped me with my priorities…it is not time management, but energy management. The truth is I feel I have time for everything but, the energy level in each ‘arena’ in my life goes down.   

So, why am I writing now? The sun is getting old and it has gone down a notch in my priorities.

In my experience with youth ministry gossip tends to be 99% false and/or exaderated. But, if 1% is true than how do you deal with it? How do you find out if it is true? Without going too off subject, I would like to stick with the focus of gossip on student leaders. For us student leaders need to be the ‘light’ of the school and anytime that ‘light’ is covered it is imortant to bring it up in a healthy, safe and loving way.

Many of you may not agree with these steps. But, this is for our youth only and I welcome new ideas. Here are the steps we take:

1. When gossip is told to me, I ask why are you not confronting this person? Chances are they do not want to. So, I inform them that I am the last person you need to be talking to about this subject. Most of the time they come to me in confidence to do ‘something’ about it and I thank them for their courage to share with me.
2. I call the student leader and invite them to a Coke (this should not be out of the ordinary, becuase you meet with your leaders regularly!) and ask them questions about how life is going. Typically, this is when the ‘beans are spilled’ and the clean up/restoration begins. However, some of them might be holding out…see step 3.
3. Remind them that you love them and your on their team. Then tell this youth that you have heard gossip and you wanted to confront them for the truth. This is an opprotunity for them to confess or clean up any behavior that may have led to the rumour. 

I love our student leaders and I am excited in how God is using them and how they are growing in the faith with Him. It is important to make sure they stay on track with the commitments they have made and for me to be a Godly example of leadership. At the end; healing and restoration of a hurting youth is the most important step of all.