Shift 09-Kara Powell

• 9:45 AM: countrycuban "Transformation That Sticks"


• 9:53 AM: countrycuban After a conference, are you gonna end up suprised... how long you can go without thinking about God? It's possible, and sadly, it happens so often.


• 9:55 AM: countrycuban Sometimes we have so many good things in our lives, that we let it distract us from God. Don't let hours go by without thinking about God... not even minutes! We need Him to be the center of our lives, yet we push Him to the sidelines.


• 9:56 AM: countrycuban If we go an hour or more without thinking about God, how long do today's teens go without thinking about Him? Days, hours, weeks? This is why there is a CANYON b/w youth and youth workers.


• 9:58 AM: countrycuban Take care of your Seniors in your Youth Group. What happens when they get to college? 50 percent of seniors in youth group after they gradaute (18 months later)... will be struggling with their faith, and probably ending up leaving it.


• 10:00 AM: countrycuban Parents and everyone else must understand that trajectories are established before the Senior year of high school. The launching is merely the ritual. This is NOT the college ministries problem, this is the youth ministies problem.


• 10:02 AM: countrycuban Are your students going to have a faith that sticks? When it's 4.20 (National Pot Smoking Day)... is their faith gonna stick? When they get invited to party on Thursday night... will it stick? When they see their first round of beer pong... will it stick? When they get tempted to go to the bedroom... will it stick? When the Philosophy professor is BASHING their faith... will it stick? Will their faith stick?


• 10:02 AM: countrycuban 1. Relationship we build with kids and the philosophy of our ministry.


• 10:05 AM: countrycuban When asked what Seniors liked about youth group... they didn't say their friends. They said their youth leader! Building a relational ministry is important, but when the seniors said that the youth leader is their favorite part... what happens when they go off to college and you're not there? What happens when you need to pay attention now to all your other students? They now feel abandoned, and end up shelving their faith.


• 10:05 AM: countrycuban 10 percent of Seniors wish their youth leader could've come to college with them. Are we making them too co-dependent. Jesus needs to be the center of focus in their lives, not you or me as a youth leader.


• 10:06 AM: countrycuban 1 Corinth 11:1 . The number one mistake we do, is we don't talk enough about God. Quit acting like they need to follow you... they don't!


• 10:08 AM: countrycuban 2. Seniors want more time for deep conversations in youth group. For 7th graders, games is fun... not for Seniors. Second was mission trips. Third was service oppurtunities. They want Kingdom-Centered Justice. Service is giving someone a glass of cold water, when they're thirsty. Justice is asking what couldn't they get it themselves, let me help them get it, let me put a system in place so they could have no problem getting cold water again. Don't build codependency!


• 10:09 AM: countrycuban Youth ministry and missions trips is not an event... it's a process. Money and Medical releases is your prep for missions trips. What happens after? Maybe a video for your youth ministry? That does nothing... that is NOT stick faith. The effects of the trip will not, will NOT stick! Before trips, teach them about cross-cultural relations, and team dynamics. During, give time for reflection. After, expand the circle of impact for your students.
  


• 10:14 AM: countrycuban They did a poverty simulation. WOW. That is so amazing. They will NEVER look at an underprivileged person again.


• 10:16 AM: countrycuban Videos have a powerful impact on students. If you need to get your youth group on a cause, start at Human Trafficking. There are 900,000 people trafficked yearly. About 103 every hour. 11 every 5 minutes. 17,000 are trafficked in the USA.
  


• 10:21 AM: countrycuban NY TIMES wrote an article that MTV is starting to incorporate shows and interviews that profile student activism (justice) b/c reality shows are not having an effect anymore. Shouldn't the Church be leading the way for this movement? Not stinkin' MTV!


• 10:24 AM: countrycuban 3. Innergenerational Youth Ministry. In our churches there's the student worship, the adult worship. The youth pastor, the adult pastor. Balance is something we swing through on our way to the other extreme. We have SEGREGATED the youth from the rest of the Church. It is causing them to shelve their faith. The more high school seniors are involved in adult worship services, sermons, and mentoring... they have higher church maturity.


• 10:27 AM: countrycuban Don't have the students segregated from the main church! When you involve the students it'll change the students, and it sure as heck is going to change the whole church! When we see students come together with the main congregation.. that's what generates sticky faith.


• 10:30 AM: countrycuban 4. Early Preparation. Seniors when asked how well the youth group prepared them for college... only 15 percent said they were prepared well. 85 percent felt the youth group FAILED. When it comes to preparation, it's never too early, and it's never too late. Start prepping junior year or even earlier... not at the end of senior year.


• 10:31 AM: countrycuban Do the students you work with, know your story or testimony? How can you expect the students to share, if you never have? You grill them, but they don't even know how you became a Christian! Share your experiences, share your ups and down in your faith... be real.


• 10:34 AM: countrycuban Put effort with the Seniors, and help them find a local church and ministry. 90 percent wished that their youth leaders would've helped them find a church. www.liveabove.com .
  
  Youth Transitional Network helps with that.