3 Reasons for Adult Mentors in your youth program!

One of the critical pieces I observe in my church and other churches is the challenge of engaging competent adult leaders to mentor our youth. It is most apparent to me, in my position, when helping a youth leader prepare for a mission trip. Some youth programs are blessed with a core group of adults that are willing to take a week of their lives (and vacation time) and give that to the kids. This does not necessarily mean that those same adults are able to make a commitment year round. If you are serious about building a team of student leaders in your youth ministry, consider putting together a team of dedicated men and women to work alongside you, first. Here are three reasons why you’ll need them.*

1) Today’s teenagers are desperately short on godly role models. Pause and think about what you see in our culture…because kids see it, too. High profile politicians and business personas cave to moral failure and scandal. Prideful celebrities unceasingly clamor for headlines and attention. Toss in a staggering divorce rate and it’s easy to see a landscape filled with brokenness. While you can’t change the culture, you can personally impact teenagers through the lives of adult mentors.

2). Matching young people with spiritually mature adults is a biblical principle. Let the list begin: Moses mentored Joshua, Eli developed Samuel, Mordecai challenged Esther, Barnabas bet on Mark, Priscilla and Aquila taught Apollos, and of course, Paul trained Timothy. Shall I continue? I could; after all, I haven’t yet mentioned Jesus’ work with the disciples, Elijah’s tutelage of Elisha, or the countless young men sitting under nameless rabbis. If you want a youth ministry led by competent and Christ-like teenagers, you’re gonna have to give your students access to great mentors in the faith.

3)You can’t do it all. To think so is the height of naivety (or arrogance). Even if you’re a really great youth worker, imagine how much more effective you’d be for God’s Kingdom if you multiplied your leadership. And I’m not just talking about surrounding yourself with men and women who are relegated to picking up snacks or driving mini vans. Nope…I’m talking about charging trustworthy men and women with serious leadership roles such as teaching, prayer, preaching, counseling, and so on. As the leader, you don’t have to do it all…you just have to make sure it all gets done correctly. Adult mentors really help with this.

*Reference Youth Specialties Article, The Missing Puzzle Piece: The Role of Adult Mentors in Student Leadership, by David R Smith posted on February 22, 2012.

Does Helping Always Help?

When I started telling people I had decided to enter the ministry, the reactions were varied. My Uncle Charles then offered to pay my way through LAW SCHOOL (make your own suppositions). My mother cried. This was big, since I had only seen her cry once before, when my dad ran over the rose bushes with his new riding mower (with the brake on the OTHER side). My father-in-law, reluctant to let things go, for 27 years has not hesitated to point out to me how valuable a dentist would have been in the family. An older minister gave me a puzzling piece of advice—the rule is that the more you try and help someone, the more they tend to get mad at you. Really? That just doesn’t fit my ministerial profile! But I am learning that there is at least one place where this is true and that is missions. Especially short term missions.

Have you ever done anything to hurt poor people? Most of us would recoil at the thought, even be offended by the implication. Here are the words of John Perkins, pastor, civil rights leader and founder of the Christian Community Development Association. “Have you ever done anything to hurt poor people? Most of you would probably answer no to this question, but the reality is that you may have done considerable harm to poor people in the very process of trying to help them. The federal government made this mistake for decades. Well intentioned welfare programs penalized work, undermined families, and created dependence. The government hurt the very people it was trying to help. Unfortunately, the same is true for many Christian ministries today. By focusing on symptoms rather than on the underlying disease, we are often hurting the very people we are trying to help. Surprisingly, we are also hurting ourselves in the process. As followers of Jesus Christ, we simply must do better.” (When Helping Hurts, Corbett and Fikkert, 2009).

I first started fretting about this several years ago while with my church’s youth group, working way up a cove in rural coal mining Kentucky. We were putting windows in a house trailer. I learned later that week that another team from our church had put windows in that same trailer four years previously. It hit me pretty hard. Groups came and went but nothing changed. The people we helped smiled, we smiled, all in a silent conspiracy. Substantive change is tough, and it takes a ton of effort, grace, imagination and teamwork. There are agencies and churches and people doing their part to help us think differently about missions. The Timothy Project tries to find where God seems to be working in these ways.

Youth Fundraisers That Work!

We all agree that the economic recession has had a negative impact on our church budgets. Fundraisers for youth groups have long been an accepted practice in many churches, as they help fund mission trips, education and work in the community. That fact has never been more real than currently, as we all scramble to maintain our focus on discipleship and growth for our students, making priorities and maintaining energy and momentum within the group. The Timothy Project has asked youth ministers to respond with their own ideas, and we are grateful that many of you took the time to share what may be helpful to another group. Your generosity is appreciated!

Fundraising:

-encourages the group to work together for a common cause
-can expose some youth to leadership opportunities, if given the chance
-can raise significant money
-can get youth and adults working side-by-side
-will hopefully “target” non church members for funds. Too many times we only “sell” or “target” church members. They are the ones already tithing the budget, which means they get hit twice (or 5 times) to help pay for the Youth Ministry activities.
-can be an accounting nightmare, unless you have someone good at keeping numbers straight
-gets lost in the shuffle of all other fundraisers kids must do
-teaches the youth that trips/events/ministry needs resources in order to happen
-teaches the youth that ministry is not cheap
-can bring a community together, rallying around a certain cause or event
David Woody, Providence Baptist Church of Daniel Island, SC

In church, in business and in our everyday lives the old adage still applies: “Plan your work, and work your plan!” The more financially successful fundraisers are generally the ones that require more planning, volunteers and coordination. The results can be very worthwhile. One church/community silent auction netted $25,000 toward a major overseas youth mission trip. Other fundraisers, with less extensive needs but of an immediate nature, can bring in anywhere from $1,000 to as much as $8,000-$10,000. Here are some ideas, arranged by categories with basic info about each. If you have further questions, or further suggestions, please contact Cliff Christian at cliff@thetimothyprojects.com.

SILENT AND LIVE AUCTIONS

This is potentially one of the single biggest fundraisers you can arrange. NOTE: This fundraiser should be done every 3-4 years only, not annually!
-Make it clear what the primary purpose of the fundraiser is, which may get you some unsolicited larger donations
-Begin planning three months out
-Have a solid team, with a willingness to contact potential donors for auction items (this is critical)
-Donations should come from merchants in the community as well as church members
-The more items the better and should include products as well as services such as automotive (tires, service etc), computers and service, massage therapy, orthodontist and dental (selling a $5,000 set of braces for $3,000 is a number that really adds up). Many restaurants will participate as well as retail, art, concert and sports tickets and memorabilia etc. Your church contacts will help give it focus. Gift certificates are also popular. If there are used items up for sale, they obviously should be gently used. This does not need to give the appearance of a yard sale.
-Larger ticket items should be sold at the separate live auction that day. You may be able to find a licensed auctioneer willing to donate his services (we did at my church), but there may be church members adept at this kind of thing.  In the live auction you can include things like vacation home rentals (owned by church members), the medical/dental services, a trip from some travel agency (I once was able to receive a donated ski trip to Colorado with air fare for two. It sold for $2,000). A valuable piece of art or jewelry, furniture, clothing, musical instrument, hand-stitched quilt, etc.
-Bidding on silent auction items should be done within a prescribed time frame, such as 9 am to noon. Depending on the number of live auction items, part of that could be held concurrently.
-It is a nice touch to offer free dessert and drinks for all that come, as well as some background music. You are trying to create an atmosphere of excitement. Maybe even some kind of video presentation of the purpose of the fundraiser could be set up in a place that would not detract from the action.
Andy Jung, Trinity Baptist Church of Raleigh NC. Tammy Isgett, First Baptist Church of Asheville, NC

RESTAURANTS AND FOOD SERVICE

Some of these can be done rather quickly and provide significant funding.
-Depending on your town, there are restaurants that will connect with you for food service fundraising. At our church, we connected with Carabbas, and their staff came to our church, used our facilities and prepared a delicious dinner (two entrée choices, chosen in advance by members). They did this for their cost, and we set our ticket price and cleared about $1,500. Carabbas did the cooking and clean up so that worked well. We offered both dine in and take out. Restaurants usually offer this service only once a month, so get on the schedule early. This can be done on a Tuesday night or some other non-weekend night.
-Applebees, FATZ café and others will hold pancake breakfasts at their restaurants on a Saturday morning. They will charge the church $1 per person and do the cooking, and you set the ticket cost ($5?). Includes pancakes, bacon or sausage and coffee. The church provides the bodies, the servers and the clean up. One church raised $1,200 for two hours of pancakes.
-A BBQ/pig pickin’ is always popular. You will need most of the food donated and church members doing prep. It is a good way to draw-in the community. It could be combined with a free outdoor concert (how about bluegrass) for the church and community.
-Sunday after-church luncheons are a staple for most youth groups. You might consider varying the theme to create interest. Hamburgers, chili, Mexican, even ethnic food, to reflect an area of the world that is a mission focus for your group. One church does a salad and potato lunch. Youth sell the tickets for $7 each, and each youth is required to bring a salad and dessert for 15 ppl. The cost is only about $1-2 per plate, and the rest is profit.
Ideas for this and others provided by Ellen Sechrest of Boulevard Baptist Church in Anderson, SC
-Freezer meal fundraising is a unique way to do what I think it a key to fundraising: Try and take advantage of products and services that are ALREADY BEING PURCHASED by church and community people. You will have a larger, willing market. This will require considerable planning and volunteers but has much potential. If you have a food services director for your church, that person would be critical in helping coordinate the effort. You would come up with several different menu items, such as soup in two different container sizes, chicken pot pies, lasagne, vegetable casseroles etc. These options would be made available to church members in advance, and they would have order forms and choose from the items. Then the food would be purchased and prepared and frozen. One church took orders for 1,300 serving items and raised $6,000. It required them renting another freezer to accommodate the volume. This has appeal for people in having a week’s menu prepared for them!

OTHER IDEAS

-One church does a plant sale in conjunction with a local nursery. The youth pre-sell bedding plants and hanging baskets. They make $5 per flat, $2 per pot, $8 per hanging basket. Significant income, and the time is right to explore this one!
-Many churches have some yearly fundraisers that are counted upon to help extend their budgets. Christmas trees are very popular in areas distant from where they are grown. Those are pre-ordered and paid in advance to eliminate risk and waste. One church I spoke with routinely clears $20,000 yearly.
-Selling pumpkins is something Methodist churches have done very successfully with the Pumpkin Patch initiative. It is also something that can be done by other churches if not interfering with an ongoing effort. An Episcopal church near where I live does very well each fall.
-Car washes and bake sales have fallen out of favor with most youth leaders, maybe because of their frequency in the past.

Angels

She had been living in an apartment with no electricity for over a month. It was July and hot, especially for Asheville. Jean was riding a streak of bad luck and now this. Her case worker with social services had somehow gotten my name and called me, desperate. The landlord had been patient but it was the end of the month…again. Time to go, and no one to take her. The youth group from Mississippi happened to have a van and a trailer, and we became the moving company. It is hard for me to imagine the indignity of being removed from your home. Somehow, Jean went about the task with gratitude toward us and grace in general. Three neighbor girls watched our carrying and loading from a distance. Turns out they were her twilight companions, coming by most evenings for visits and smores from her small charcoal grill, her only means of cooking. I could see the hurt and confusion on their faces that day. Jean pulled them close and assured them she would be back to see them, giving each of them some special comment. “Angels,” she said, “you are my angels.” Then we all stood in a circle, held hands and prayed, thanking God for sending us angels.

Why We Do Missions

What are you passionate about? Music? Sports? Maybe you follow the Tar Heels or the Blue Devils. I follow my Demon Deacons pretty closely, which has led to my share of misery of late. Maybe you are passionate about something you do. I enjoy cooking and find recipes to try out on my family (the Cornish game hen was dismal). Maybe your passion is your family, your children or grandchildren. Most of us can talk a while when someone asks us about our family. Whatever your passion is, I hope you have one! Passion is what drives us and gives meaning to our lives.

Many years ago, during a revival meeting, I walked down the aisle at Westfield Baptist Church. What does a 9 year old boy understand about Jesus? In a very important way, he knows enough. “Jesus loves me and I want to be more like him.” In the intervening years, I have learned more about Jesus, but the confession holds fast. This is where a Passion to Serve begins. It is accepting and believing in the love God has for us through Jesus, realizing what an incredible gift that is, and being willing to share that gift with other people. It’s not that complicated. It is why we do missions—we are trying to be more like Jesus.

I have to note our pastor’s words from his sermon last week: “It is impossible to live like Jesus, without Jesus.” Isn’t that the truth? I know I cannot be forgiving, committed, persistent and relevant enough without standing next to him. I have tried it and still try it, and it doesn’t work. So, we can be good people, we can donate to causes, we can be sensitive to people’s needs. But if we are Christians, our passion to serve comes from a relationship with the One whose life was about being a servant.

As we look headlong into this new year, let’s consider our place in our church and outside of it. President Jimmy Carter tells the story of when, as a young man, he served as a kind of missionary in a poor urban area. An Hispanic man pastored a store front church and Carter would accompany him as he tended to the people in his neighborhood. The ministry was very difficult and things at times seemed bleak, even hopeless. Carter was amazed at the pastor’s attitude and willingness to serve every day in the face of despair. He asked the pastor about it. He seemed startled to be asked such a question, since it did not seem to occur to him to do anything else. He replied, “There should be two great loves in your life—God and the person standing in front of you at any given moment.” Who is standing in front of you?

The Rev. John Perkins is a founder of the Christian Community Development Association. He was also a friend of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and a leader in the civil rights movement. He puts it this way, “We religious people tend to lean on the supernatural. We always want God to prove Himself with a sign. But God works through people. That’s the incredible thing about grace. God doesn’t only save us, He works through us—redeemed sinners—to redeem the world. Even more incredible is the fact that God is sovereign and doesn’t need us at all. But he chooses to work through us. I don’t know if we really understand grace until we grasp this idea that God chooses to need broken people like us in his plan to redeem the world.”

You see, something BIG is happening. You should be a part of it.