Tag: student leaders

THE CORE: DEFINING WHO WE ARE & WHAT WE DO

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Are we developing faith within the life of students that sticks?  Are we developing a “Sticky Faith,” a faith that will continue on after the walls of this church are in the rear view mirror?

It is our desire that Westhill would be place where the foundations of a lifelong faith in Christ are formed.  A place of life change, where students are introduced to Jesus and the world around them is radically shaken by the transformation they have experienced.

ENGAGE:
Following Jesus has never been about us, it has and always will be about building His kingdom.  The church was called, then gathered, then formed for the purpose of being sent out.  We are called to go and engage the world with the message of Christ.  We engage the world through serving those around us in our schools, our community and our world.  We share a responsibility to invite people to experience the story of Jesus through our life on display for all to see, as a city on a hill.

EQUIP:
The most important relationship in the life of a student is their relationship with their parents. We highly value this relationship above all other relationships in the life of a student. Since we place so much value on this relationship, we are committed to doing all we can to help equip and assist parents in every way possible.

CONNECT:
We are not simply a Student Ministry we are a part of a church. It is vital for students to find connections outside of our ministry to build relationships with other caring adults who are willing to pour into the life of a student to mentor and disciple them in their growth in Christ.

CREATE:
We strive to create an authentic family atmosphere within WSM.  A place to belong, to feel accepted, loved and a place where they are not judged. We desire to create environments where students develop relationships with other students and caring adults, who will help them to see a bigger picture of what the Kingdom of God looks like here on earth.

EMPOWER:
We want Westhill to be a place which models servant leadership for our students and then entrusts them to serve.  These students are leaders now, in their schools, in their home and in the church. It is our desire for students not to merely be here, but to find a place to plug in and serve. We want to create a safe place for students to lead and a safe place to fail within our ministry. We want to see every student plugged into a ministry within the context of our Student Ministries.  It is our desire as 11th & 12th graders they would serve in the same ministry in the larger church.

5 Reasons Transit was My Most Successful Ministry Weekend

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Forgive me for the lack of posting in the past several weeks.  I have been putting all of my time and energy into getting ready for Transit this past weekend.  It was an immense success for our ministry, and I see such a bright future in this ministry.  We focused on three relationship over the course of the weekend, spent time in worship and family prayer.  So what made the weekend so remarkable?

1.  Family – the majority of our incoming 6th graders and their parents made this weekend a priority.  Moms, dads and their 6th graders spent time worship together, playing together, sharing together, praying together.  We focused on relationships.  The Relationship with Christ.  The relationship with family.  The relationship with friends and mentors.

2.  Established Mentors – each of the 6th graders invited 3 or 4 influential adults to join us for a special ceremony on Saturday as we concluded our weekend.  The students selected these adults because they have seen them as significant influences on their life up to this point.  For the ceremony, the student, parent(s) and mentors sat in a circle.  The student began with some of the highlights from their school year and thoughts about moving forward.  Then the mentors and parents shared with the student the following 3 things. 1. Share with the student the Godly qualities you see in this student.  2. Then you will give them a charge to follow Christ and remain faithful to Him. 3. What is your hope and prayer for this student as they go through junior high/high school.  These mentors were then given a charge to walk with these students through, Jr High, High School, college and life transitions.  My dream is these relationship would last forever.

 8 We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. (1Th 2:8 NIV)

3. Involvement – This weekend involved a lot of our students.  Our Student Leadership help with greeting and leading a session by themselves with the 6th graders.  Our students in our worship ministry led worship for the weekend and did an amazing job.  Students also ran media support for the weekend.  David and Michelle  along with 3 of our middle song teachers led a round table discussion with the parents.  So great to see so many serving.

4. Connections – Entering Jr. High all of these new 6th graders have mentors they are now connected to as well as one of our student leaders.  Parents took time to sit and pray with the students.  Hopefully this is happening a bunch already but is great to have really intentional and focused times.  We also got sevre helpful resources in the hands of parents and student.  Each parents went home with The Space Between: A Parent’s Guide to Teenage Development, Shepherding a Child’s Heart,  Creating an Intimate Marriage: Rekindle Romance Through Affection, Warmth and Encouragement, 99 Thoughts for Parents of Teenagers.  Each Student went home with Surviving Middle School: A Hilarious Guide that Will Help You Avoid Being a Dork.

5. Money – I asked our congregation to help support this weekend.  We were given enough money to pay for all of the resources for the students and parents and have a nice catered meal of Friday evening.

Our first Transit weekend was a huge success.  I will spend some time later this week processing ways we can improve heading into next year.

This is the transit_blessings parents and mentors received prior to the weekend.

Our Schedule
Schedule:  Friday, May 18th

6:00 PM – Worship (Relationship with Christ)
7:00 PM – Dinner
7:45 PM – Parents Session 1
7:45 PM – Students Session 1
8:45 PM – Worship
9:00 PM – Go Home for the evening

Saturday, May 19th

8:30 AM – Breakfast at church
9:00 AM – Worship (Relationship with Family)
9:45 AM – Parents Session 2
9:45 AM  – Student Session 2
10:30 AM – Worship & Prayer (Relationship with Friends & Mentors)
11:00 AM – A Rite of Passage
12:00 PM – Go Home

CORE PURPOSE FOR STUDENT LEADERSHIP

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This past week I have been thinking a lot about the goals I have for our student leadership team.  Student Leadership is not a new idea, but many times in Student Ministry the leadership team simply consists of the popular kids who make the decisions about the fun activities the group will do.

So as I have been processing the direction of our leadership team I came to a realization.  The realization is this…  I talk about prayer a lot, we even pray as a part of our times together, however, I would say prayer has not been a priority for our leadership team.  It has not been the focus.  The focus has been on what WE NEED to do rather than on what we NEED HIM to do.  This past week I tried to really begin engaging our leaders in prayer.

For me the problem was twofold.  One, there is so much to be done at times it is easy to jump right in.  After all in ministry the work never stops.  Two, I wonder if from time to time I get so focused on all that has to be done, that I subconsciously suppress prayer because it is ultimately my job to get it done.  So what about the words of Jesus in John 15?

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

The last part of this verse has really been making me think, how much ministry am I trying to do on my own?  Am I teaching these students that ministry is all about them?  Because Jesus says without Him it is going to fail and our work is useless.  I am not saying stop working hard.  In fact I believe the exact opposite is true.  We must work as if it depends on us and pray like it depends on God.

I firmly believe making prayer a priority for student leaders begins with a mentor teaching them to pray, not through lessons but through actually praying.  I want to hear all of our leaders pray.  I want to give them specific things to pray for together in our group time and throughout the week alone.  Mostly I want them to see me modeling prayer.  Not simply rehearsed and antiquated words from our past, but a true passionate heart being poured out to God, a heart that truly believes, if God does not show up then our efforts will be wasted.  We must be developing hearts that beg and plead to be a part of building God’s kingdom.  Through the modeling that they might see prayer in a different light, as if our very life and ministry depends on God, because it does.

There are lots I want our student leaders to learn in the time they are a part of our ministry, but above all else I want them to see the essence of prayer in the life of a leader.  To boldly ask God to do the impossible through their life and ministry because I believe teenagers will not truly understand the work and power of the Spirit until they see the Spirit at work in their life.  As pastors, ministers, leaders, and shepherds may we never take lightly our commitment to prayer.  It should be the bedrock on which our leadership is built.