Target Session Two

When Your Church Doesn't Want to Change with Eric Lawson (from OneEighty)

Youth Culture (including youth pastors) are passionate for change. We have a God-ordained craziness, working with youth. It's a positive thing, but it can also be our greatest weakness. Consider the statistics on youth pastor. Only one of ten yp's will still be in ministry at sixty years of age. Let's turn that statistic around. God is looking for leaders who have the depth of character to be relevant for the next forty years.
How do we navigate a culture that is constantly changing? Our number one job is to serve the pastor of the church. Your job is to get behind the pastor's vision. If you will be faithful to that which is another man's, God will give you your own. God is looking for people who can lift up the hands of Moses in this time. (transparency without nakedness) How many of us have considered quitting??
You can feel like God has left your church because no one wants to change. (ouch) Some of us are in a dry season, feeling frustration. We need to realize that God is still in this place and He will give us a vision and fresh infilling. It is not an accident that you are in that church. We need to wake up and say "God is in this place" and plug in where we are at. God does not lead by opportunities because Satan can manufacture opportunities too.
(Sometimes you don't hear God because you don't want to) The integrity of the upright will guide you. God will never lead you outside of integrity. God's will is more important than ours, He's more concerned about what is happening in you than what is happening around you. Rather be in God's will in the dessert than in the promised land without Him. Don't follow opportunities, follow God's will. You can't have a long term ministry without Him. He is more concerned with your longevity and your legacy than your current status. God used an imperfect father (Jesse) to position David to become king. David wouldn't have found his destiny if he hadn't been in submission to an imperfect leader. You need to know how to honor the authority of the people God has placed us under. Jesus put his Judas in the seat of honor at the passover meal. Know how to love them, honor them, put them in the seat of honor in your life. People don't follow what you do, they follow who you are. God is most concerned about who you are becoming. We need to be more concerned with character. It's hard to draw more people if you are resistant to change. Why do we want the numbers?? (numbers of kids, people) We are way too hung up on numbers. We put our identity in our numbers. We will always struggle with this, it's our pride. Numbers matter to God, but we have to go beyond them and measure the health of our church. Anybody can get a crowd.
Key Performance Indicators for youth group:
1.) Attendence - how many of the kids come from a ten minute radius. Know and understand your numbers and where they come from?
2.) Visitors - where are they coming from? Are you retaining them? People bring people to things they love. That's how you get visitors. If your kids aren't bringing friends, why??
3.) Decisions - how many are new decisions, how many are rededications?? Gotta go beyond the decisions.
4.) Dicipleship - can't leave these spiritual babies in the gutter. Need to have a system in place.
5.) Student Involvement - everyone is created to serve. Are you involving your students?
6.) Giving - track giving. If giving is growing their heart is growing.
7.) Volunteers - how many adults can you get to volunteer. Do you have workers that are older than you? If you can't attract older people, than is your maturity level too weak.

If you are in a desert, just know that God is there. The greater the change inside - the greater the change outside - long term.

PS - the pictures are Eric Lawson (in the green shirt), our fearless leader Jeff Kossack (DYD in cowboy shirt) and Rockford Masters Commission kids doing a super cool human video type thing. Love this live blogging thing, don't you?