Talent is cheap…

Bertoldo de Giovanni is a name that many of the most avid art followers probably wouldn’t be able to recognize.

Giovanni was the pupil of Donatello, considered perhaps the greatest sculptor of his time. More famously, he was the mentor of Michelangelo, who is considered the greatest artist of all time.

Michelangelo began to study under Giovanni at the age of 14. Even though he was incredibly young, Giovanni noticed immediately how gifted Michelangelo was. Knowing the tendency of the gifted to coast, Giovanni made it his entire mission to push his student to complete harder, more advanced tasks.

One day, Giovanni came into the studio to find Michelangelo toying with a sculpture far beneath his skill level. In a fit of rage, Giovanni snatched a hammer off a nearby table and ran across the room. When he made it to his pupil, he grabbed the statue and with the hammer smashed it into a million pieces, all the while screaming at the top of his lungs:

“Michelangelo, Talent is cheap! But dedication is costly!”

There is no significant historical evidence to prove this out, but most scholars believe that were it not for this one moment, Michelangelo would not have grown to become the greatest artist of all time.

I believe that within the ranks of Student Ministry are some of the most talented Youth Workers in the history of the World. I believe that within the empire that is Student Ministry, some of the greatest communicators, organizers, connectors and planners reside.

But I also know beyond the shadow of a doubt that talent does not automatically equal success.

Unfortunately, our society has grown to have an unhealthy obsession with talent. We have attributed a rockstar-type status to anyone who exhibits talent in any area.

And the trickle down effect has caused many of us as Youth Workers to over emphasize talent and in the process under emphasis character, dedication and anointing.

We can become so focused on talent that we miss the fact that most success stories in Student Ministry start, are filled with and ultimately end with a lot of hard work and dedication. We can become so fascinated with the end result of someone’s dedication that we miss the fact that it took years of grueling effort to get them to that place.

Talent is cheap. Anybody with half a brain can learn how to do anything. Success in Student Ministry is not a question of talent, but a question of dedication and discipline. It’s not about how gifted you are at certain areas, but how dedicated you are to getting better in every facet of Student Ministry.

Success in Student Ministry is not about where and how you start, but how you finish.

Can I let you in on a secret?

Some of the best Youth Workers I know are not the most naturally gifted ones.

Seriously, some of the best Student Pastors I know are not great planners, organizers, communicators or visoneers. But they ARE the most dedicated Youth Workers I have ever seen.

Success in Student Ministry is .01% talent and 99.99% dedication.

So remember that the next time you get depressed because you aren’t as talented as that person across town. And remember that the next time you try to get by on your God given talent alone.

And never forget:

“Talent is cheap, but dedication is costly.”

Or I’ll get my hammer!

 

PS- Just as a side note, let me say that I appreciate you reading this site. The purpose of this whole beast that is The Backstage Project is to help you get better at the day to day aspects of being a Youth Worker. If you have found anything useful on this site, please pass it along to someone you know who could use a boost (which is pretty much all of us). And as always, if you need to talk or have any questions, feel free to contact me!

I believe in you!

-Noah

If

King Philip was a relatively well know ruler. Perhaps more famous was his son, Alexander the Great. During King Philip’s reign, he was constantly in pursuit of acquiring more areas and colonizing more lands.

At one point, he set his sights specifically on a tiny little area known as Sparta.

King Philip sent the Spartans a message that went like this:

“You would be well advised to surrender now. If we come into your town with our armies and defeat you, we will raze your homes, we will enslave your sons, we will rape your women and will kill your men.”

These were some serious words and being one of the superpowers of that era, Philip had expected that the Spartans would surrender with no hesistation. Philip did not, however, realize who it was that he was dealing with.

The Spartans, known for both their wit and militaristic fearlessness, sent a message back to King Philip. The message they replied with was simple:

“IF”

And while that is a great story and makes us cheer for the Spartans a little bit, the relevant truth is that we are all in a similar situation in our own Student Ministries.

The devil has sent us a message saying “if”. If I get a hold of you, I will wreck your ministry. I will destroy your students, I will ruin what you have tried to build. If you try that new thing, you will fail. If you try to enter your schools, you will be rejected. If you lay hands on your students, they won’t respond. If I get near you, I am going to destroy everything about you.

And sadly, many of the best Youth Workers have bought into the intimidation tactic that the devil has thrown our way. Many of us have given up. Many have surrendered. Many have become content to move back into the shadows of comfort and convenience, never fully stepping out in faith. Believing more in the power of Satan than in the power of God we serve.

All the while missing the grammatical flaw in the devil’s statement.

What we fail to realize a lot of times is that “If” is different than “when.” By his own admission, there is no guarantee of the enemy’s victory over us. “If” denotes the chance of failure.

And just like King Philip, it is the devil’s plan to try to get us to surrender rather than to fight. Because he knows that if we decide to fight, there will be casualties to his kingdom. If we fight, there will be souls pulled out from under his very grasp. If we fight, our society will change. If we fight, then others will begin to fight as well.

If we fight, our students will begin to fight.

And there is nothing the devil fears more than an army of students that decide that they are tired of putting up with the lies and intimidation the devil has thrown their way and decide that they are going to change their schools, their cities and their world.

There is nothing that strikes fear into his cold, blackened heart faster than the thought of students rising up and becoming the ferocious spiritual warriors that God has called them to be.

But this battle begins with you as a leader. Will you believe the lie of the enemy? Will you fall for his intimidation tactics to try to get you to surrender?

Or will you respond in a way that shows you are not backing down from the fight? Will you respond in a way that strikes fear into his heart with such intensity that he never even tries to harass your Student Ministry?

Will you respond with a brash boldness and confidence and stand toe to toe with the enemy, knowing the power of God inside of you and say simply….. “Bring it on!” If you think you are strong enough, bring it on. If you think you are more powerful than the spirit of God inside of me, try it.

He has tried to make you believe that “if” was a reality long enough. What we need are Youth Workers and Student Pastors that are willing to stand with their shoulders squared, their faces in God’s word, their knees on the floor in prayer and belief in the power of God inside of them to simply say:

If

 

PS-  For the duration of both his and his son Alexander’s reign, the vast armies of King Philip never ONE SINGLE TIME attempted to overtake Sparta. It reminds me of an often quoted verse found in James 4:17: “Resist the Devil and he will flee”

 

The Substitute…

Anarchy!

That’s what would ensue every time my 7th grade class would enter homeroom and realize that our teacher was out. Maybe it was the fact that we were rowdy, smelly Junior High kids, but I remember vividly the chaos and carnage of having a substitute.

There were some subs that we even liked. But regardless of much we enjoyed the substitute teachers, we saw it as a contest to see who could get away with the most while they were there.

It’s not that we disliked the subs or loved and missed our teacher that much, we just knew that the substitutes didn’t quite have the same level of authority that our real teachers did. And even they call the substitutes, there really was no substitute for our teacher.

I fear a lot of times the same sort of thing happens in our Student Ministries.

We try to substitute external things for the basic tenets of what it means to be a minister.

We try to substitute great ideas for great anointing.
We try to substitute time spent studying for a message as time with God.
We try to substitute cutting edge concepts for life-changing content.

And we wonder why anarchy seems to ensue. We get frustrated wondering why our students aren’t seeming to “get it.” We get agitated because we don’t seem to be getting through to them.

It’s because we have substituted the power of God for the ability of ourselves.

Let’s pop the proverbial bubble and call it as it is…

You students can see through fake. And that is exactly what we are if we try to operate on our ability rather than on His anointing.

They can spot a lack of genuineness. They have keen insight into the world of facades and yours isn’t fooling them.

It is important to place our focus on the external things at times. Cool media, relevant lessons and well crafted events are pivotal to a successful Student Ministry, but those things were never meant to replace the power, anointing and will of God in you Student Ministry.

Cafes are awesome, but if we spend more time setting up the cafe than we do on our face before God, we are destined for failure.

I cannot stress enough that those things are important, but not more important than His hand at work in your Student Ministry.

There is no substitute for prayer. For fasting. For anointing. For True Worship. There is no substitute for His Word.

There are no shortcuts in Student Ministry. There are no skip aheads. There are no move your token to Boardwalks.

And there is no substitute for the level of intense prayer, fasting and commitment that our elders had down to an artform.

And just like I learned in my 7th grade class, no substitute can ever come close to being as effective as the real thing.

No anointing necessary…

When I was in Bible College there was a prevailing thought that all of my teachers touched on as it related to any ministry that we felt called to be involved in.

With their gray hair and weathered skin showing the wisdom of their statements, they would declare:

You cannot grow a ministry without the anointing of God.

I would like to now formally disagree.

Now before you close this tab on your browser and blast me on twitter as being a heretic, let me explain.

In Youth Ministry, we have a misguided view of success. A lot of times, we equate growth with anointing. We assume that because a Student Ministry is growing that the leaders are anointed.

That misguided view of the anointing is dangerous.

Growth and success does not automatically equal anointing. Just because we are seeing growth doesn’t inherently mean that we are being completely lead by the spirit of God.

In Student Ministry, you can be a talented speaker, a great organizer or amazing at connecting with students. You can read enough books to know how to lead a Youth department and growth can happen because of that. We can learn the ins and outs of Student Ministry enough that we becoming talented Youth Leaders.

But we cannot afford to mistake TALENT for ANOINTING.

We cannot afford to trust in our own abilities so much that we ignore God’s abilities. We cannot become so well versed in learning how to be a Student Pastor that we neglect the very primal aspect of what it means to be a minister, and that is listening and allowing our lives to be lead by the spirit of God.

We cannot afford to trust in our own talents because talent does not matter in eternity. We absolutely MUST be willing to learn and get better at what we do, but we cannot allow that knowledge to override the Voice of God in our lives.

We cannot forget that:

Talent doesn’t save lives, anointing does.
Talent doesn’t break the yoke, anointing does.
Talent doesn’t heal the sick, anointing does.
Talent doesn’t get people to heaven, anointing does.
Talent doesn’t change family situations, anointing does.

We cannot mistake TALENT for the POWER OF GOD.

 

And just because a person is successful, it doesn’t mean that they are anointed. Every bit as much as we study how to be a better Youth Worker (and we all should do that), we need to work on training ourself to listen to the Voice of God. As much as we read books about Student Ministry, we need to be reading the word. As much as we talk to other Youth Workers about ideas and concepts, we should be talking to Jesus.

There is no amount of talent that can do what one ounce of the Spirit of God can do. There is no substitute for the Power of God in your Student Ministry. No amount of programming or creative ideas can ever replace the Spirit of God in your Student Ministry.

So, with respect to my professors, you CAN grow a youth group without the anointing of God. You can grow a youth group on talent alone. You can’t grow a Student Ministry depending on your own wisdom…

But not for long. Not a truly successful Student Ministry.

And definitely not a Student Ministry that changes their world.

Remember: Growth does not automatically equal anointing.

And we cannot afford to mistake talent for anointing.

So the question then falls on you to answer, am I anointed or just talented? Am I led by the Spirit of God or by my own knowledge? Have I attempted to lead on my power or through HIS Power?

And as a side note, aren’t you thankful that true success doesn’t depend on your knowledge and abilities?

PS- This particular post is something that I have been prayerfully working to insure is true in my own ministry. After 11 years of Student Ministry, there is a lot that I have learned. At this point, I know how to craft a series and program a Student Ministry and all the other little things that I have picked up over the years. I have been taking extra time to insure that everything I do is led by the Spirit of God, not just what I want to do at any given moment. That’s not to say that I have ever ignored God, but rather that I am taking additional steps to insure that my personal life, my relationships and my ministry are ALL 100% led by the spirit of God.

And you want to be successful, it would behoove (weird word) you to insure the same thing is true in your life.

I love you guys! Thanks for sticking with the site through the mini hiatus that we have been on!

-noah

 

II Pause

(The sheer irony of this post is not lost on me. I have been meaning to write this post for the last week, yet things have been so hectic that I haven’t gotten the chance until now. And the irony is, this post is about our busyness in Student Ministry. I guess you have to appreciate the irony)

I love swimming. Give me a pool and a warm summer day and I am happy.

If you have ever swam in your life, you have probably played those common pool games.

Marco Polo, Sharks and Minnows, Submarine.

Submarine may not be one you have ever heard of though. Submarine was a game we invented that was basically “Who can hold their breath longer?”

I was decent at submarine, but definitely not the best.

And while it is a simple game that people play while swimming, a lot of Youth Workers try to play submarine with how they work in their Student Ministry. A lot of us (especially me) try to go as long as we can without taking a break. We try to stick our noses to the grindstone and try to stay deep in Student Ministry without taking time to refresh ourselves.

And whether it is swimming or Student Ministry, we cannot afford to forget that we will die if we do not breath.

If you do not take the time to refresh yourself and to come up for air, you simply won’t make it. If we cannot force ourselves to take the time to relax, then we will never lead that Student Ministry to where it needs to go.

Let me say this too: You’re not lazy if you take a day off every now and then. Don’t abuse it. Don’t be a slacker, but understand that your mind, soul and body need oxygen. You need to breath every now and then. You need to come up for air.

You need to pause. Not stop, just pause.

Now, I am acutely aware that many readers are bi-vocational, have nobody else that can carry a youth service or maybe have a Pastor that is a little more strict on time, so let me share the following with you:

Pausing doesn’t mean you have to go away on a trip, although that is probably the best way to come up for air. I am no expert on you or your specific situation, but here are some ideas to help you stay fresh.

1.) Turn off your electronic devices-
I have a problem. Every time my phone buzzes, chirps or dings I have the overwhelming sensation to check it. I cannot stop myself! Every time I turn on my computer, even if it is just to look up a phone number, I catch myself an hour later doing work. Turn off your phones, leave your computer in its bag and take some time just to yourself without being connected. The likelihood of some crisis happening at that exact moment is beyond rare.

2.) Stay in-
On a Saturday or any day that you have off work, spend some time just in your house. If you’re married, spend time with your wife. If you have kids, sit around and watch cartoons (online of course . Spend the day doing nothing with no responsibilities. Take a “Stay-cation” as they call it.

3.) Hobbies-
I love watching football. I love tennis. I love shooting video. I love hanging out in downtown coffee shops. I enjoy crafts. I love to read. Those are just a few of my hobbies, and I am sure that you have some as well. Allow yourself some time to do something else that you really enjoy. Putting your focus on something else will get your mind off of Student Ministry long enough for you to refresh yourself.

4.) Take a Service Off-
This will only work if you have someone that can carry some of the load, but take a Sunday or Wednesday off from speaking. Visit another church, go out of town or if you can’t do either of those, sit back and absorb all that your Student Ministry is doing. Have someone else run the service and just take it all in. The ideas gathered from pulling yourself out for a service will rejuvenate you.

5.) Change your scenery-
They say this is one of the best ways to keep your creativity up. Change your scenery. If you normally write your lessons in your office, work from home or a coffee shop one day. If it’s a nice day out, work from outside. If you can’t get out of the office, rearrange your office for a change of pace.

These are just some tips to help you stay fresh in Student Ministry.

Every now and then with any computer, you just need to restart and refresh it. The same is true about the computer in your head.

Don’t neglect to take the time to refresh and restart yourself, otherwise you’ll find yourself dragging and not moving as quickly as you could.

Whatever you do, don’t forget to come up for air!

 

<< Rewind

(This week we are beginning a new series on the blog. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a name…HA HA! Happy New Year! Enjoy!)

The New Year’s holiday is both the perfect ending of a previous year and the perfect beginning of a new year. Fireworks, friends and family. You really can’t beat it.

But as another year comes to a end and we close the chapter on 2011, it is imperative that we take a look back on the last year before we close the book.

I remember as the year 2010 came to a close, I was sitting alone in a room at my wife’s grandmother’s house in upstate New York. At the time, we were in Madisonville, KY and were beginning to feel that a change was coming. I remember feverishly taking notes for what I wanted to accomplish in the year 2010.

I’ll be honest with you. Some of those things were accomplished (like finishing a manuscript for the book I have been working on) but some I wasn’t even close to completing (like reading 45 books this year).

But as I look back over 2011, everywhere I look I realize that God has been faithful.

When there was no money to pay the bills on my Student Pastor salary….He was faithful.
When cars broke down and there seemed to be no way to fix them….He was faithful.
When relationships were severed and people turned their backs on us…. He was faithful.
When things we sailing along smoothly…He was faithful.
When we needed a miracle…He was faithful.
When we made the decision to move to Richmond, VA…He was faithful.

In every area of my life and of my efforts in Student Ministry, God has always been faithful.

Has it been easy, No. Have I wanted to quit, Yes. Have I even gone as far as to put in applications at secular businesses, maybe.

But through it all, God has been faithful.

And I would be willing to bet that as you look back over the last year, you would come to the same conclusion in your ministry.

Maybe you haven’t seen the growth you wanted… But He has been faithful.
Maybe you have dealt with problem students… But He has been faithful.
Maybe you have dealt with spineless and abrasive parents… But He has been faithful.
Maybe you have faced broken relationships… But He has been faithful.
Maybe you have faced tragedy this year… But He has been faithful.
Maybe your world was turned upside this year… But He has been faithful.

No matter what situation you have faced and no matter the outcome of it…God has been faithful.

While there are some things that we probably wish we could have done differently in the last year, it doesn’t change the fact that God has been faithful.

The beauty of it is that those things that God had planned for you and I in 2011 haven’t expired. His purpose for us didn’t end at the stroke of midnight on December 31st. As soon as the calendar switched over to January 1st, His purpose and plan extended into the new year.

And even more incredible is that His faithfulness doesn’t have an expiration date either. If He was faithful to you in 2011, He is more than able to continue His faithfulness through the next year.

If God ever fails you, it will be the first time he has failed anyone. If He ever turns His back on you, it will be the first time.

Sometimes we need to rewind and look back at all that God has done for us as a way to click “refresh” on our perspective.

God’s got you covered in 2012 the same way He did in 2011.

I cannot promise it will be easy. I cannot promise everything will go your way. I cannot even promise that you fulfill your resolutions for the year.

But I can promise you that God will never leave you nor forsake you. And in that I know that nothing is impossible in 2012.

Because with God all things are possible, even in 2012.

Incubators and Caskets…

Your desire to work in Student Ministry did not come without a flood of vision and dreams. When you first felt that tugging in your heart to work with students, I would be willing to bet that you were flooded with emotions. I am willing to bet that excitement made you want to jump up and down. I am sure fear grabbed a hold of you tightly. I am positive that you doubted your ability to do what you felt God calling you to do.

But in that process something else happened…

You began to dream.

Visions of what you could accomplish in that church clouded your ability to think of anything else. You dreamed of leading youth to change their city. You dreamed of a day when there would be more students in your group than in your church. You saw visions of your students laying hands on the sick and the power of God working through them. You dreamed dreams about walking the hallways of your county schools. You dreamed of getting calls in the middle of the night because your students were praying for people at sleepovers and in the middle of Wal-Mart. You had ideas, visions and dreams for cutting edge programs and life-changing messages.

But then something else happened. You were smacked in the face by reality. Maybe you realized that your budget wasn’t there to have that huge youth revival like you wanted to. Maybe you realized that your students weren’t as spiritually advanced as you thought they were. Maybe you realized that the reality of Student Ministry is that it is nowhere close to our fantasied view of it.

But the question I want to ask you is simple.

Where did you put those dreams, ideas and visions that you once had?

I think we have all been met with brick walls in Student Ministry. I know in my time in Student Ministry, there have been some moments where everything was going smoothly and I was just about to try out something that God had been dealing with me about. And in those same moments, I have been blindsided countless times by things that I had no control over. Budget. Staff tensions. Lack of pastoral support. Deaths in the family.

When you come face to face with the reality that your ideas, vision or dream isn’t going to work out right then, you really are being met with two choices.

1.) I can abandon this altogether.
2.) I can save this and keep working on it for later.

And that’s where you decide whether you will put that dream into an incubator or a casket.

I can honestly tell you that there are so many dreams that I have had for my Youth Ministries over the years that I have put into caskets rather than incubators. There have been so many times that I have mistook God’s “Not Yet” for His “Not Ever”. And in so doing, I have robbed my Student Ministry of things that God had placed in me specifically for that group.

Don’t allow your circumstances, the situations you encounter or the struggles you must endure to force you into aborting that dream that God has given you for that group. Don’t allow your pride to talk you into abandoning that vision because life and situations have gotten in the way. Don’t allow yourself to mistake God’s “Not Right Now” for Him saying “Not Ever”

You will face situations. You will face circumstances. You will be running smoothly and then get blindsided. You will have failures along with your successes. Some things will not go your way.

But don’t lose hope that the dream God has given you will come to pass. Don’t lost faith that God will use you to fulfill the vision He has given you.

Don’t put that dream in a casket. Don’t abandon it. If God has given it to you, He has given it to you for a reason.

Place it into an incubator. Work on it behind the scenes. Allow yourself to keep believing that vision will come to pass. Place it in the back of your mind and keep working towards it.

Some of the greatest experiences in my Student Ministries have been the times just like what we’re discussing today. They have been the times that I have held on to a dream or vision even when it seemed there was no way it would happen.

It really is ultimately our own choice.

So where will you place your hopes, dreams, ideas and vision?

In a casket or an incubator?

 

Hope…

I’ll be honest. I have written and re-written this post 3 times already. I have tried to be light-hearted. I have tried the more serious route. I have tried for somewhere in between.

So if you will allow me to, I’m just going to write what I feel to share and we’ll see what happens.

As Youth Workers, we wear a lot of hats. We are designers, church administrators, teachers, Pastors, leaders, influencers and friends. We listen to students. We hang out with students. We do all sorts of things.

But perhaps our biggest job as youth leaders is simply to offer hope.

Hope to students like Jonah in the video. Hope to students who come from broken families. Hope to students who need something to believe in. Hope to students who come from bad circumstances. Hope to students who feel like God has abandoned them.

As Youth Workers, we are dispensers of that hope. We are the ones that can speak life into dead souls. We are the ones that can speak a word that can change a life for eternity.

So don’t let yourself get bogged down by the administration of Student Ministry. Don’t allow yourself to get so focused on the exteriors that you miss out on the greatest responsibility that you have…

Introducing your students to the hope that we all have in Jesus.

There are students in your communities and even in your youth group that struggle with the same things as Jonah. There are students that you see on a weekly basis that are searching for a reason to even live. There are students that you know who are desperate to see something happen good in their lives.

Give them that hope. Show them that they can trust in Him. Introduce them to the “hope that maketh not ashamed.” Introduce them to a God that can change their lives.

They need need that hope.

Show it to them.

 

 

PS- I do not personally know Jonah, I found this video on youtube and it was such a wake up call for me that I just had to share it.

What Will You Write?

I love writing. I love the clicking of the keys on the keyboard. I love the sound the pen makes as it scurries across the crisp paper. I love the way the ink materializes on pages that were once desolate.

I love to look at a blank screen as I am right now and imagine what it can be. The paper screams with possibilities of what it can become. Will it be a love letter, will it be a poem, will it be an encouraging note? The opportunities are endless.

There is something distinctly creative that happens in that moment right before pen meets paper and fingers hit keys. I live for that moment. I cannot express to you the sheer excitement that I feel in that moment as I enter into a world of words, sentences, vowels and grammar.

Simply put, I geek out when it comes to writing.

But what excites me more than penning words on pages or posts on this blog is what I write onto the hearts of my students on a daily basis. What excites me more than blog readers and blog comments is hearing a student recite the biblical truth that I helped instill in them.

We are all authors. Whether you consider yourself a writer or not, as Youth Workers we are all writing something.

As you step behind a pulpit, you’re writing the word of God on your student’s hearts.
As you lay your hands on a student to pray with them, you are writing that you God cares for them.
As you spend that one on one time with a student, you are writing that someone cares about their day to day life.

We are always writing. Whether we are the Student Pastor, a Youth Worker or an adult volunteer, we are writing into the lives of those students. That’s why years down the road you will have students specifically remember these moments that you shared. That’s why they remember your sermons. That’s why they recall all the fun times.

Because you were writing into their lives.

So the question is not “IF” we are writing in their lives, but “WHAT” we are writing.

Are we writing hope? Are we writing the necessity of a relationship with Him? Are we writing mercy and grace? Are we writing forgiveness? Are we writing about their future? Are we writing about God’s love for them?

Every word you say. Every action you take. Every smile. Every encouragement. Every text and Facebook message. Every time you take a moment one on one with your students. Every youth event. Every time you step behind a pulpit. And not just that, but everything you do in your personal life. Every time you pray. Every time you fast. Every time your students see YOU worshipping…

You are writing on the greatest canvas that this world will ever know. You are writing on the most influential piece of paper.

You are writing into the soul of a student.

So what will you write?

 

Do What They Did….

(First off, let me apologize for my absence from writing…I’ll have a post up before long explaining it in more detail. But just so you know, this blog isn’t going anywhere. We’ll be here writing until we’re 85 or God tells us to stop, whichever happens first. In honor of of your patience during my absence, I’m bringing you a fresh post, hot off the presses and something God is currently teaching me. Happy Reading!)

Do What They Did…

I am a blessed man. I have an awesome job. I get to do work that I love everyday. I have a beautiful wife that I love and who for some reason loves me. I have a car that works. I am in no way even close to rich, but God provides. I have a great family and I have a great life.

Yes, there are bad times. Yes, there are days that I wish I could have just fast forwarded through. But all in all, I am a blessed man.

But I don’t think I am coincidentally blessed. I don’t think it’s by chance or luck. I believe that I am blessed for a very specific reason.

I believe that I am blessed because of the prayers of my grandmother and grandmother that I never even knew were prayed. I believe strongly that I am blessed by my grandmother used to get up at 5 AM everyday and pray for God to bless me and my brothers. I believe that I am blessed because my great grandmother, who has already passed away, lived such as consecrated life while she walked this Earth.

Yes, I believe that God blesses us for our response and willingness to respond to Him, but I believe that there are some blessings on my life by the simple virtue of the fact that my ancestors had such a strong anointing on their lives and they prayed that God would bless me.

I believe that they walked in such an anointing that God is still blessing them and answering their prayers long after they have lost the ability to say another word.

I have been contemplating the anointings of my ancestors lately. I have been trying to establish what veins of the Spirit they operated in. And I have even gone as far as to pray that God would bless me with their anointing.

In fact, that’s where this post was birthed from. I was praying the other day and began to ask God to place on me the anointing that my grandmother so greatly walked in.

I felt like God stopped me as soon as I prayed and in His simple way made this remark:

“You will never have the anointing that they had, until you are willing to do what they did”

Those words from God hit me like a dump truck full of cinder blocks.

Because my generation is a generation of convenience. My generation grew up being able to microwave everything and have it instantly. My generation lacks a true understanding of what patience really is. I am a part of the NOW generation. I want it all and I want it now.

I had to take a step back and really look at myself. I wanted my Grandmother’s anointing, but….

Was I willing to live a life of consecration amidst ridicule?
Was I willing to still live for God when it wasn’t easy anymore?
Was I willing to get up at 5 AM EVERYDAY to talk to God?
Was I willing to work for God even though I was tired?

And as Youth Workers the same can be said of us. We see that Youth Pastor across the street that seems to live and breath success while in our group, nothing seems to be going right. We see revival happening in that other Youth Group so we beg and plead with God to give us that revival in our group. We beg God to give us the anointing that other Youth Worker has.

But let me echo God’s words to me this past week to you:

“You will never have what they have until you’re willing to do what they do.”

I know it seems simple. I know it looks like they’re just lucky. I know it appears to be something that just happened, but it’s not.

Nobody accidentally has revival. Nobody stumbles into reaching their city. Success doesn’t just happen.

It is the result of countless hours of prayer. It is the result of sleepless nights. It is the result of blood, sweat and tears. It is the result of moments that they probably wouldn’t even feel comfortable sharing.

The cost of great anointing is great sacrifice. The price of a great Student Ministry is time, effort, and energy. Success is the sum total of everything you endure as a Youth Worker. The greater the success that He is calling you to, the greater the struggle there will be getting there.

And until we are willing to do whatever it takes to be successful in Student Ministry, until we are willing to do what they did then our prayers for that anointing are pointless.

When we are willing to do whatever it takes, when we are willing to take whatever steps necessary. When we do what they are willing to do, then and only then can we walk in that level anointing.

It is my prayer that you are the most successful Youth Worker in this entire country. It is my greatest hope that you walk in an anointing far bigger than you have ever dreamed possible. It is my prayer that you are so successful that your Youth Facilities cannot hold your students anymore.

But know that if it’s going to happen, it won’t by accident…