Leveraging Influence

John 4:25-30 (New Living Translation)

The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus told her, “I Am the Messiah!” Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, “What do you want with her?” or “Why are you talking to her?” The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” So the people came streaming from the village to see him.

God has granted each of us with incredible opportunity and influence that we are called to leverage to make the name of Jesus famous in our world. As I sit here and think about the message God has placed on my heart for students tomorrow night at AMP*D, I keep asking, "God what must we drop or leave behind so we can leverage our testimony to bring a generation to you?" For the Samaritan woman, she left her water jar, or her mask that she was hiding behind at the well and ran to the village with her testimony of the encounter with Jesus, and because of that, people met Jesus! She had influence on her culture, she lived in the culture and had a life changing encounter with Jesus while in her culture!!! She removed the mask, tasted the living water that satiated her soul then allowed that to permeate through her hands and feet!!! Oh, how I pray that would be our lives...that we would drink from the cup that quenches all thirst and leverage the influence of the Gospel as it flows out of our lives to a culture that is thirsty! What mask do you need to remove, what is your water jar?

Students Serving It Up

We want our students to experience personal ministry. We believed that something amazing can happen when a student takes off the spectator glasses and “jumps in” to serve alongside the adults of our church.

Students want to make a difference. But sometimes we make them into spectators instead of participating members of the church body.

Churches must create a system that encourages students to get involved!

We have created weekly opportunities students to serve within our church. Here are some things we are learning:

1. Everyone must be on board and see the benefit

Both staff and volunteers from the preschool, children and middle school departments, must see the value not only to their ministry area but the incredible value that it adds to the spiritual development of a high school student.

Students want to be treated with respect and they want to be seen as equals. They want to be given adult-size responsibilities.

Yes, they may have some growing up to do, but as long as they are treated like a valuable part of the team they will rise to the occasion! The leaders in these areas can help these students grow the most by treating them as partners in ministry and modeling for them what leading and serving others really looks like.

2. Ministry leaders are in the best position to motivate, train and celebrate the students that serve with them.

What this essentially means is that our students should be invited, placed in a position, trained, appreciated, celebrated and scheduled by the ministry leader for which they serve, just like our adult volunteers.

3. It's contagious!!!

Students that are currently serving on a ministry team are inviting their friends on the journey! So they are moving beyond the just "come and see my church" mentality to the mindset of "go and tell, come and JOIN me." By that, they are leveraging their influence and doing their part in fulfilling the Great Commission.

Do you allow students to serve in your ministry environments?

Life Group Leader Tip: Follow the Leader

In 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul says, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ .” If life groups had a theme verse, it would be this one. It sums up everything that life groups are about. It also forces us to ask ourselves the question, “Am I worth following?” We want all of you to feel empowered to lead students in our ministry, but before you set out and get involved in their lives, you have to ask yourself this question.

First of all, the answer to the question is “no.” We aren’t worth following. We are some of the most broken and messed up people that exist. However, with the Holy Spirit living inside of us and the Bible to guide us, we can be confident—like Paul—to ask students to follow our example.

The real question, then comes to be, “Am I following Christ’s example?” Paul was only able to make this bold statement, because he knew that he was following Jesus with his whole heart. Can you say the same? Are you seeking to follow Christ’s example daily? How are you doing that? Who do you have in your life to hold you accountable for the way you live?

Leading students is not something you should take lightly. Leading them by following anything other than Christ’s example is leading them away from him. You have a high and heavy calling on you. Don’t take it lightly. Do everything you can to follow Christ’s example. And then invite students to come along.

To Save a Life Movie Advanced Screening

This is an invitation for all parents, school leaders, and area youth workers to come out and pre-screen the movie "To Save a Life" that hits theaters in January. This screening is not open to students as our goal is to build anticipation and momentum for the huge opening weekend in January. If you are a student, we will be putting info in your hands very soon to hand out to your friends. Be praying NOW, about who you will invite to see this movie when it comes to theaters in January. In January there will be a 7-week study that follows the opening night theater screening. In the meantime, students, you can check out the preview trailer of the movie at www.tosavealifemovie.com. If you are an adult please use the link below to RSVP your space for the preview night. This will be our biggest community outreach night for 2010, let's begin praying now for what God will do!!!

To Save a Life Advanced Screening
When: November 13, 2009 7:30PM (Doors Open @ 7PM)
Where: Barefoot Community Church 701 Main St. North Myrtle Beach, SC

To Reserve Your Seat, Click HERE.

Spiritual Depth

"But we must hold on to the progress we have already made. Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example." Philippians 3:16-17

It's so easy to equate spiritual depth with learning something new and profound. But God equates spiritual depth with obedience. Pauls tells us to live up to what we we've already attained, adhering to the elementary principles of the faith. Keep adhering and keep growing---such a life demonstrates that it is transformed and, because of that, it is transformative.

Life Group Leader Tip: You Can't Teach Passion

All of us began volunteering with student ministry, because we were determined to make a change in the next generation. We weren’t content with sitting back and watching the next group of students follow blindly into lives of emptiness and brokenness. We wanted them to do it better than we did it—to keep them from having the same hurts and scars that we had. Hopefully, most of us started our journey as small group leaders fueled by a passion to make a difference in students lives. But, if we’re not careful, we can lose that passion and fall into routine and apathy.

Student ministry is tough. There are no guarantees that we will ever see one ounce of change in a student’s life. Sometimes, we pour our entire lives into a student just to see them return to the same sin pattern that we know will lead them to destruction. But we can’t give up! We can’t lose the passion we had when God called us to minister to students. However, it’s our natural bent to burn out. To give up. To lose heart.

The good part is that our God never gives up. His fire never burns out. His passion for His children never dies. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow! We HAVE to find a way to obtain God’s passion or it’s game over for us. We can never fully invest what we need to invest using our own passion. We have to capture God’s passion for His children before we can ever think of making an impact. So what are you doing to catch God’s passion? Are you seeking God’s heart? Are you spending enough time with Him? Is your time with Him worth anything or is it just checking off a list? Without a connection to God’s passion we will fail. Are you connected?

Next Gen Vision