Discover LeaderTreks

Learn more about our friends at LeaderTreks, the wonderful folks who provide the majority of the training resouces used in the SALT program.

The Weekly Word (announcement)

The Weekly Word will be taking a short break, through the Thanksgiving holiday.  We will return the week of December 7.  Until then, have a great Thanksgiving with family and friends and continue being faithful in meeting, listening, sharing, exploring, questioning, learning, growing and living live with your mentee.  Blessings.

The Weekly Word

This week’s thought, is a blog of a blog of a blog… It comes from Kem Meyer, via Josh Griffin’s blog.  Here is the excerpt from Josh…

***

Kem Meyer has a great article today on overpromising in the church – something that I think I might not be alone in in youth ministry. Here’s a clip, worth the read and the evaluation of what you’re promising:

“Come experience a community of grace.”
Again, nice goal, but you can’t control the outcome. I had promised a “community of grace” for a friend of mine and she finally joined me for a weekend service. During the message, her cell phone went off. A man sitting behind us scolded her for being rude and selfish. He even asked her not to come back if she couldn’t have the decency to turn her phone off during church. True story. Yes, it’s a distraction for others when a cell phone goes off. Obviously. However, what isn’t obvious is that my friend was taking a gigantic step by attending church for the first time in years. My friend didn’t look at the man as an individual, she looked at him as the church. And, I had not delivered on my promise.

Are we making statements as if they were facts, when in reality they are subjective and left to personal interpretation?

Are we promising something we can’t deliver on?

Are we baiting people with exaggerated benefits?

The reason I pulled this out for our thought this week, is because this is so easy for mentors to do with their mentee.  Believe me I know how difficult it can be at times to spark a quality conversation or wade through the training material and because of this we sometimes resort to the over promise.  One of the greatest tools we as mentors can have in our tool belt is the ability to be real and authentic with our mentees. Forget the oversell, rather focus on being you and I believe in the end you’ll realize it was the better way to go.

The Weekly Word

Today, I thought I’d go more practical, rather than philosophical. So I present to you 10 Unfinished Sentences, by Les Christie of Youth Specialties fame.

1. I enjoy being around people who…
2. When I wake up in the middle of the night I sometimes worry about…
3. The most dangerous thing I would like to try to do would be…
4. What bugs me most about movies and television is…
5. If I could change one thing about the way I was raised it would be…
6. The best time of day for me to take a few moments to be with God is…
7. The worst thing about church is…
8. My definition of success is…
9. When I get embarrassed, I usually…
10. I can talk for hours about…

Feel free to use these the next time you’re not sure how to break the ice with your mentee.

If you have other unfinished sentences, feel free to share…

The Weekly Word

Here a good reminder of the role wisdom plays in our lives.  Positioned along side a mentoring relationship, and I think you have the recipe for long term success.

photo by: Hugo Humberto Plácido da Silva

The Weekly Word

I snagged these helpful tips/reminders from Josh Griffin’s blog, and while this post is largely reflecting on youth ministry in general; I think these tips/reminders hold just as true for a mentoring context.  Here’s what guest blogger, Andy Disher had to say regarding mapping directions…

I’ve learned (sometimes the hard way) – that in ministry, it’s good to know where you’re going before you get there.

Chart out the direction of your ministry. Highlight the portions of your journey that you do not want to get lost.  Track your progress and know where you’ve come from, and where you are going.

Prepare for possible detours. However, don’t focus on the detours, don’t dwell on them, don’t live in them…. just be ready for them.  They will come! And when they come – take a breath, and allow God to help you navigate through them.

Plan your rest stops. Rest stops were created for a reason.  Sleep, food, bathroom break, and more food.  Find a “rest stop” in your season of ministry to re-energize, re-focus and just rest!  You need those moments to rest.

Balance your speed.  We all speed on the road.  There is always someone going too slow.  In ministry, there is a time and a place for speeding through it.  The momentum might be going well, and you might be cruising along, enjoying the scenery.  However, know when to turn the cruise control off, slow it down a little bit, and reflect on where you are.

The Weekly Word

Here is a very good word from our friend Mark Ray on the topic of our masks vs that of being transparent.

As mentors we certainly desire our mentee to be comfortable enough to show their true selves with us and in reality to the world around them.  However, the same is also true for us as mentors.  We too must be authentic and true (transparent) as we guide and walk along side the young person we have opportunity to mentor.  Obviously, this is easier said than done.  Thankfully Mark has provided us some useful insight into this issue.

Here is a snippet of Mark’s post…

…For many of us, from the time we are very young, we begin the art of hiding, becoming actors on the world stage and masters of fiction. We take great care to display to those around us only those things they may find good and acceptable, and we disguise and conceal those things that might earn us disapproval or out-right rejection… [read full story]

The Weekly Word

Kid’s Can Tell…

One of the things that I have noticed about youth ministry is that a lot of youth pastors view their role as a stepping stone to get to that “bigger pulpit” — you know the one in “Big Church” where the real people are. I’d like to share something with you all: Kids can tell.

But, we also know this – we can tell when you authentically love us. We can tell when you are drawn to the messy world of teenagers – not just so you can extend your adolescence, but so you can lead us through ours and into a maturing, crazy courageous faith in Jesus. [Read Full Story]

This article is a good reminder to any of us working with teenagers; especially those of us serving in the role as mentor.  Teenagers are savvy creatures with a keen ability to know when our heart isn’t directed at them.  Not only are they savvy, they can be selfish.  Mix the two together and you have a recipe that demands our full attention.  As mentors we must remember to be fully with your mentees (at least while we are together with them).  I would never suggest you give all of your time and attention to them (you have a life outside of your mentoring relationship), but when you’re with them… be with them.

Practical ways to accomplish this…

• Be on time for your meetings (this assumes you make the meeting in the first place)
• Be intentional about not canceling or changing meeting dates and times (obviously things do come up last minute, but make this exception rather than the rule).
• Turn off the cell during your meeting (it’s a couple of hours, most things can wait and this is why voicemail was created).
• Don’t meet somewhere you know you’re likely to be distracted (I know I can’t meet at BW3… there are far too many TV’s hanging on the walls).

Remember, it’s about the connection and the relationship that is developed because of the connection.  Do your part to foster that, for if you aren’t your mentee will be able to tell.

The Weekly Word

I pulled this devotional thought from a weekly email Dr. Dave Rahn sends out to his prayer team.  While he here is referring to the business of his past week (the wedding and marriage of his daughter), it serves as a great reminder of how each of use as Christians are to live and pattern our lives.

…of course, this is the gift God gives us, isn’t it? We were created to live well and leave the best of ourselves in others so that they can go further, faster and be even more faithful to the Lord Jesus than we are able to attain. What a joy that we were not made to hoard our lives, but to find the life we were made for when we totally abandon ourselves to the love and purposes of Jesus.

As you mentor, lead, serve and minister remember it’s about imparting into those around us, rather than “hording our lives” for our own pleasure or gain.

The Weekly Word

We’re starting something new here at the SALT Shaker, The Weekly Word.  The Weekly Word is a thought, challenge, idea or bit of motivation related to leadership, mentoring and the like.  Check back every Tuesday and get a new dose of The Weekly Word.

LEADERS WANTED

For as long as I have been in youth ministry, I have been watching trends; how youth ministry changes and evolves. This fascinates me. It’s been my observation that two forces have brought change to youth ministry over the years… [read full story].

—–

So what do you think?  Share your thoughts and be a part of the discussion.

Are You Ready to Launch SALT?

Can you believe it, fall is just around the corner!  School administrators and teachers  are preparing to begin for another school year.  The high school football team is practicing hard, anticipating a winning season and likely you have already begun filling in your fall calendar.  With the flurry of ending your summer programing and preparing to launch your fall, you’ve possibly forgotten about the SALT Program.

You’ll recall, the SALT Program is the student leadership development program of the Brethren Church and it is our aim to be constantly providing you, the youth leader, quality training resources that will help you invest into the lives of your developing student leaders.

A quick refresher course on SALT.  It is a ten month training program that involves youth from your ministry partnering with an adult mentor from the congregation to work through various training resources all focused on developing godly student leaders.  We’ve made some changes to the structure of the overall program and you will want to take some time to familiarize yourself with these changes; especially if you’re new to SALT.

Allow me to share a few quick tips on getting started:

1. Spend some time here on the Blog researching and getting to know the program.
2. Download a copy of the SALT 3.0 Manual and read it through cover to cover.
   • If after reading through the Manual, you have questions, please contact YAC.
3. Make applications available to your youth, and determine a deadline to have applications turned back in to you (likely mid-September).
4. Order training material based on the number of youth and mentors participating in the program.
   • One set of books per youth and mentor is ideal, but you may choose to provide training material however best fits your needs/budget.
   • If ordering direct from LeaderTrek, use the code: brethrenchurch09 to receive a 10% discount.  You may however order from any site you choose, several have been listed on the RESOURCE page of the blog.
5. Set a SALT participant’s and mentor’s meeting (sometime in mid to late September).
   • Here at the meeting you would distribute the training material to the participants.
   • You may also want to provide your mentors the appropriate mini-manual for their level of training.  These can be download from the RESOURCE page.
   • Be sure there are still a few days left in the month (September) following your meeting for youth and mentors to meet together for their first meeting.
6. Once you have your participants and mentors, report those numbers back to YAC.
   • This is vital to allowing YAC to track with and offer support to you throughout the year.
7. Optional: you may choose to charge a fee to participants, to help off set the costs of the training material.

In a nut shell, following those steps will position you well to launching a SALT Program within your youth ministry/church.  Know that YAC is praying for you and we want to see your SALT Program succeed; if at any time you need help or have questions, please contact us.  We are here for you!