The McBlog

Something funny happened a couple years ago. Within a span of 24 hours, I was asked for 2 vastly different recommendation letters from 2 vastly different students.

Student A
This student was a top-of-his-class salutatorian with a 4.5GPA, a dedicated student athlete who was (and still is) completely sold out to Christ and a HUGE blessing to our student ministry & local church. He was applying to several colleges and was in the running for several scholarships and needed a recommendation letter

Student B
The second student was, let’s just say, on the other end of the spectrum. He needed a recommendation letter as proof of completion of court-ordered community service.

By the way, juxtaposed stories like this are why I LOVE student ministry.

But the irony of the contrasting letters aside, I still had to write them, and I had a hard time doing this. I remember thinking how awesome it would be if I had a resource with a couple solid examples that I could look at.

So I want to start sharing with you guys some practical resources that you can use in your everyday operations of student ministry. This resource folder contains a couple examples of recommendation letters that I’ve written (Word & PDF versions). Have at it. Love you all.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Hey McBlog readers. I wanted to introduce you to an awesome blog if you haven’t already come across it. The blog is called “The Uprising”, written by one of my best buds, the one & only Brandon Miraflor. This blog is about “Creative Pastors”, and if you have a question about what exactly that is, just read the post.

At the end of his post, Brandon shared some links to “Creative Pastors” & I’d like to add a couple:
Russ Cripps
Amado Huizar
Tauren Wells
Paul Povolni
Paul Price

Enjoy. Love you ALL! -David

Who Needs a Creative Pastor?

“Hi there, I’m so-and-so the new Creative Pastor down at such-and-such church…” You hear it more and more but what does “Creative Pastor” really mean? It seem to be this new buzz phrase that churches across north America are adopting to describe this new breed or type of pastor.

Before anyone gets upset and stops reading because they think I’m opposed to the idea, let me say this: I personally think that there is a pressing need for us to have these types of pastors amongst us. Here at CLC {Christian Life Center} we have an amazing creative pastor on staff named Josh Rivas. Josh might not be known nationally but he will spend anywhere from 40-60 hours a week just on design/presentation/creativeness for our church.

So… we all know what it means to Pastor. But what does Creative Pastor mean? Let’s look at the word for a second.

cre·a·tive adj.

1. Having the ability or power to create
2. Productive; creating
3. Characterized by originality and expressiveness

This definition seems like it should define all pastors. However, this is not the always case. I believe we sometimes lack the ability to think creatively because we’ve been taught that people who are creative are liberal and generally not saved. But thinking and being creative is something straight out of the Word of God.

In the beginning God created…

There is a need deeply rooted within our spiritual DNA for us to create. But so many times we find ourselves in a box. Whether we put ourselves there or whether it has been projected on us, none-the-less we can find ourselves stuck.

I once asked Wayne Francis, “What do you do when you find yourself in a box?” His reply was simple, “If I’m going to be put in a box, I’m going to make it a plaid box”. In other words be as creative as you can in every situation God places you in.

Many times we don’t have the time to be creative. We become arrested with so many other important things in the word of the Lord that creativeness gets put on the bottom of the pile. Lets face it, each week there are things we need to do and things we want to do. Sometimes it’s just easier to just stick with the bare minimum. This is where you can develop a young productive, expressive, creative pastor.

However I have often observed that young creative youth workers are perceived as worldly or loose if they are trying new and appropriate methods of reaching this generation. Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about altering the message of the gospel, Acts 2:38, the oneness experience, etc. and the values that our elders have fought to preserve. I’m referencing to method.

Take the example of Twinings Tea. For the past 300 years, Twinings has influenced tea drinking and continues to be a leader in the tea industry. Stephen Twining, the 10th generation Twining, was asked how Twinings has continued to be successful over the long haul. He said, “It was our founder Thomas Twining’s philosophy to focus on high-quality tea and innovation to give our customers the best tea-drinking experience possible.” He went on to say that in the 1930’s when tea bags were becoming popular that Twinings didn’t reject the technology, but embraced it by saying, ”How can we make the best tea bag possible without changing the tea?”

I think sometimes we are afraid to embrace the “new”. There is the feeling of uncertainty. Will the bag change the tea, will the medium/method change the message? And the answer is, no. We serve a God the is bigger that technology, bigger than our traditions. His desires us to follow him and be creative – God’s word is true.

{For more reading on the whole method and message read this post by my friend David McGovern – THESAURUS }

So you see, having the ability and power to create, to be productive, being characterized by originality and expressiveness is what we need in this hour. WE DO NOT WANT TO BE LIKE THE WORLD!!!!! We just want to reach this generation. If we don’t, who will?

Who needs a Creative Pastor?… You do!

- Brandon

PS: Here are just a few creative pastors I follow. Who are some creatives you know?
Jason West
Jacob Pereida
Josh Rivas
Mitch Rose
David McGovern
Brandon Shanks

And since I had so many requests for more Jesus Culture, here you go.

I love youth workers. Absolutely positively LOVE youth workers. If you’re a youth worker, odds are you’re overworked and underpaid, but hopefully never under-appreciated. I’m entering my 12th year in youth ministry, and with each passing year I get more & more passionate about helping the next wave of student leaders.

If you’re a youth worker (whether you’re the youth pastor, a staff member, a sunday school teacher, a bus driver or anything in between) YOU ARE MY HERO. YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE. Don’t get weary in well doing. Keep working. Keep reaching. Keep dreaming. Keep loving those crazy teens.

You’re doing EXACTLY what you’re supposed to be doing & you are EXACTLY where God called you to be.

I came across this humorous, albeit abstract, video called Youth MiniSTARS. Laugh a little bit & be encouraged. You’re making an indelible impact on this generation & the future. You may not feel like it, but you’re a ROCKSTAR in my book.

Love you all.

Hey all my Student Ministry / Youth Ministry peeps! Just wanted to share a new resource with you. “Minute to Win It” is money! It features TONS of powerhour games /crowdbreaker game ideas, and even has cool video intros for each game that you can play if your media booth can project online video.

Check it out here.

Disclaimer / FYI – “Minute to Win It” is a “reality game show” that is broadcast online, and also on network television. It is a “show” produced for entertainment. But if you check it out, you’ll see that it definitely has some cool, fresh, youth ministry style games.

There you have it. No more excuses for doing Chubby Bunny the zillionth time!

Love you all.