Remember the political ad this year about the phone ringing at 3 am? The question was whether a certain candidate would be ready to make a split decision. It was an interesting ad. .
Well, Friday night/Saturday morning, our phone rang at 2:30 am. I sleepily answered, and on the other end of the line was Jon, the intern from Huntington University that has been working with us for the last 6 months.
He told me that his landlord’s dad had passed away and there was a lot of movement in the house (their apartment is basically a part of a big house, and his landlord’s dad was living across the hall). He asked if they could come sleep at our house, since it was having a big impact on them.
There’s not much public transportation at 2:30, so I dragged myself out of bed and drove over and got them. This whole experience got me thinking about things. As usual, my thoughts turned to ministry, especially youth ministry.
What do you do when someone calls you at 2:30 in the morning? Almost nothing good happens that makes people call you at that hour. It’s usually always an emergency. It’s usually always bad news.
In youth ministry, we must be ready to take the call at 3 am. We must be prepared to make the split decision that will reach out and help someone who is in need. We spend lots of time planning life-changing events, but often life-change comes from an event for which we did not plan.
We also must be willing to be the ones they call at 3 am. In Jon’s case, he had nobody else to call (we’re pretty much the only other Americans they know). But in youth ministry, if we haven’t spent time with people and gained their confidence and trust, they won’t call us when they really need someone. They will look to someone else. We must make it part of our job to be the person they trust enough to call in the middle of the night or in the middle of a crisis.
So, what are you doing today to prepare for the 3 am phone call? Are you ready?
(Photo by Mylla on Flickr)
I recently quoted President Felipe Calderon as saying, “Hope must be offered to young people who don’t believe in anything.”
The President has a point. But it’s not that young people don’t believe in anything. Many of them don’t believe in the things we wished they would believe in (especially institutions such as the government or the church).
In the following video, we interviewed some young people about what they believe about God and the church. I think you’ll find their responses interesting.
Young people, when they do believe in something, believe in it with all their hearts. We all remember the picture of the Chinese young person opposing the government and putting himself in the way of a row of tanks.
There are young (and old) people in Mexico who believe in the Virgin of Guadalupe enough to crawl on their knees towards her image so that their sins can be forgiven. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. They have a conviction that goes beyond what the church usually thinks they have.
Sure, apathy rules the day, but young people are capable of being passionate. I think it was one of the most interesting things about the recent election in the United States.
Young people drove the campaign of Barack Obama. They were his supporters from the beginning. They latched on to the tools he was using to drive his campaign. He was definitely targeting them, and their enthusiasm and passion helped him arrive at the White House. He is a young person’s President.
Young people can be passionate. It’s our job to help them become passionate about the correct things. We need to present them with a Jesus that is worth being passionate about. After all, he’s much more relevant than any political party or presidential candidate. He’s the real change we need.
So, this post begs the question…”How do you instill passion into your young people?”
(Thumbnail photo: BarackObama on flickr)
The Mexican President, Felipe Calderon, at a recent meeting of heads of state in Latin America, said, “Hope must be offered to young people who don’t believe in anything.”
Even the President of Mexico realizes that young people need help. The interesting thing is that there are many people in the church (even in our Seminary) who think that youth ministry is a waste of time.
My students have to deal day in and day out with people telling them that they are wasting their time studying to minister to young people.
I tell them that there is a great need out there for people who really care about young people and who want to invest their lives influencing the next generation. It’s an ongoing struggle for them, but I know that they are committed to offering to these young people something to believe in.
It’s been a great week. I can’t wait to hear what my students say on Monday when they come back from their churches where they work. I know that they will be used this weekend as they offer hope to the hopeless generation here in Mexico.
(Photo of Mexican President and the President of San Salvador at a recent conference)
We just announced over on our Spanish website that we’ll be starting up a certificate program in youth ministry (see the announcement – Diplomado en Ministerio Juvenil – in Spanish) in January.
The idea is to offer an informal youth ministry training for those who cannot study at the seminary full time. This program will meet on Saturday mornings for four hours starting January 10, 2009. We’ll have two locations – one at the Seminary and the other at a church in the south of the city.
The entire certificate program lasts for a year, with nine courses overall that each last a month. We’ll be taking June, July, and December off each year.
I’m praying for 30-40 students in the entire program, which will benefit many churches.
So, if you read this and know someone in Mexico City who would be interested, pass them the link with more information. If you don’t live in Mexico City or know anyone in Mexico City, pleas pray with me for this new way to train youth workers here.
This Saturday, Jon and I went to ExpoCristiana, a gigantic Exposition of Christian books, music, and everything else imaginable. We went with Huberto and some of the young people from his church.
While we were there, Jon and I made an incredible cultural observation: Mexican young people love bracelets.
I snapped these pictures on my camera phone for proof. We spent at least 10 minutes standing at this booth looking at the bracelets.
So, I guarantee that this is something I will use in ministry. I need to get some bracelets made up to promote the Seminary program and our website, or, the next time someone invites me to preach at a camp or something, I need to get some bracelets that have to do with the topic.
After all, you have to identify the culture to use the culture to reach the culture.
