Len Woods - If I Knew Then What I Know Now: Youth Workers Share Their Worst Failures and Best Advice

ZONDERVAN

If I Knew Then What I Know Now
Copyright 2010 by The Livingstone Corporation

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ePub Edition November 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-59989-0

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CONTENTS

One of my (Len) favorite cartoons is set in ancient China. Five men in traditional garb stand in a circle amidst a vast landscape of rolling hills. One is speaking. The caption reads: Gentlemen, we have a heck of a wall to build. I suggest we get started.

How odd to consider that there was a day when the 4,000-mile-long Great Wall of China didnt exist. Not a single brick was in place.

Then someone got an idea. Maybe a lot of soul searching and consultation followed. There were discussions. Debates. Then a decision: Lets do it!

Explicit plans were made. A team of workers was gathered, motivated, and led. Centuries of backbreaking construction followed.

The eventual result? An architectural and cultural marvel. One of the acknowledged wonders of the world.

Enduring, successful youth ministries are built the same waygood ideas (or, more accurately, God ideas!) are hashed out, refined, and implemented by gifted people through much wise planning and hard work. But if were not asking the right questions from the very beginning, then our efforts to build a thriving and God-honoring student ministry can crumble.

Between us, the two authors of this book have spent nearly 60 years working in the field of youth ministry. And If I Knew Then What I Know Now is our attempt to share some of the hard lessons weve learned from experience. Weve asked ourselves what we wish wed known from the very beginning, and weve also asked dozens of other seasoned youth ministry veterans to share their responses to the same question. The result is the book you now hold in your hands.

One of the most essential truths weve learned is that you cant reach out to teenagers if your own house isnt in order. If we knew then what we know now, then instead of immediately diving into a frenetic ministry schedule from Day 1, we would have taken the time to ask ourselves five hugely important questions:

Is my spiritual foundation solid?

What are my motives?

What exactly is the mission?

What is my plan?

What are my expectations?

These are great questions for you to ask as well.

IS MY SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION SOLID?

Chris Larsen grew up in what he calls a vaguely religious home. His father was an agnostic Mormon, and his mother was an apathetic Baptist. Because Chris mom still believed in God, the family would attend the Baptist church whenever guilt overrode his moms weekend sleep patterns. Chris explains,

I learned early on the importance of the closing invitation. I noticed how people were celebrated when they walked the aisleespecially on that last verse where God finally moved strong enough on the heart of some white-knuckled pew-grabber.

I remember the dayat about the age of 10when I got to be that celebrated kid. When my friend left the pew, I quickly followed, afraid to be left alone in the back row. When I got down front, the pastor asked me what I wanted to do. I shrugged, since Id never been down front before. He guided me through a prayer. Then I filled out an information card with the help of a well-meaning blue-haired lady. On the spot, I was introduced to the congregation, and I shook what seemed like a thousand hands of smiling well-wishers. I was baptized that same night.

For the next several years, anytime Chris would talk to anyone about faith or being a Christian, hed refer back to that experience where he fulfilled his spiritual obligations to God and the watching congregation. He was in high school before anyone in the church seemed to care about more than his conversion story. Chris recalls,

I was in Houston at the time, and a youth minister named Johnny Brady began the seemingly impossible task of investing in me as an individual and not a job requirement. He asked about my family and invited me to his home. He spent a lot of time with me and continued pursuing me even when I avoided him. I rebelled against everything he taught me. And even though I had no place for religion or God in my life, Johnny was one of the few people I trusted.

After high school graduation, Chris went into the military. During a Christmas leave, Johnny invited Chris to be a chaperone on the youth midwinter retreat. That was a significant weekend for Chris because he realized how much hed neglected the spiritual dimension of his life, and he decided to get involved in church when he got off leave. He began actively checking out nearby churches, depending upon the girl he was dating at the time.

Eventually Chris was stationed in the Houston area near his home church. He got involved again, volunteered with the youth ministry, and became a leader. When the youth minister asked Chris to teach the seventh-grade boys Sunday school class, he did it and loved it. A while later he was asked to be the middle school director and then the youth ministry associate. Chris began to feel as though ministry might be what he was supposed to do. So because of his good standing in the church and his 10-year-old aisle-walk story, he was licensed to ministry.

That July the church held a good old-fashioned revival. As the youth associate, Chris was responsible for organizing the youth pizza-pack-a-pew night. Chris describes the experience:

After dinner, we bait-and-switched these pepperoni-stuffed students into the worship center so the guest evangelist could give them the food their souls craved. I was in the second row, and the preacher talked about all the things people use to claim a relationship with God. He said some assume church membership is a means to grace. Others believe they are right with God because theyve served enough or taught a Sunday school class. Still others feel as though they will gain access to heaven because they are in ministry.

One by one, this traveling evangelist took away all the religious credentials I assumed made me right with God. And I realized that night that a relationship with God was by grace, through faith, and not the product of walking an aisle or participating in religious activities.