The internet has given everyone a platform. You don’t have to be intelligent, talented, or have a strong work ethic to be well known online. In recent videos I have watched online to learn some different media tools, I have found that there are young teenage kids who are the experts at media training. They are doing these tutorial videos and they aren’t much older than fifteen.

The dynamics have changed in the last decade. My generation loves it. The older generation is leery of it. The truth is, there are both blessings and curses to the trend of the internet.

Young leaders tout their knowledge and expertise as if we actually know what we are talking about; as if we are the experts. And because most of the other guys in our generation agree with us, we get away with it. We even gain some traction. After a certain number of “hits” on the blog, we begin to believe our own press.

The reality is, we know very little. We speculate. We theorize. We strategize. We analyze. We criticize. But we have very limited actual field experience and knowledge.

That doesn’t make us wrong – it just means we have to be more careful.

Don’t broad brush me, here. I’m not suggesting that every young leader with a blog is arrogant. I would be putting a nail in my own coffin if I meant that every blog from every young guy is a danger zone.

I have, however, been guilty of perhaps overstating some of my own positions. It’s easy to do. We believe in our hearts that we are right, and we begin to write about it and tell the world why we are right and they all have it wrong.

Now, I don’t think that young leaders should be held back simply because of our age. However, there should be an understanding on our part that we may not always get things exactly correct. Why not?

We are impulsive.

We are part of the “knee-jerk reaction” generation. We want to fix everything; now. We want to point out all the wrong and lift up all the good and we now have the vehicle with which to do it.

We are passionate.

Ninety-nine times out of one hundred, I would say that the motives of the guys in our generation are exactly 100% on target. We have good intentions. However, we often fail to see how what we say or write may have an impact on others.

We are warriors.

There is no doubt that this generation is as much a group of fighters as previous generations. We are just fighting about different things. To sit back and criticize the older generation for majoring on trivial things is a little hypocritical. The reason is because our generation is doing the same thing, but in a different way. Instead of focusing on being more conservative like our fathers, we are focusing on our liberties. And we will take anyone to task over it.

We are ministry driven.

We want to reach people. We want to build churches. We want to have an impact. We are hard workers willing to put in the time and energy to see something accomplished. The struggle is that we need to be Spirit driven and allow the Lord to do His work. That doesn’t mean we should be lazy, but it does mean that we are to be about His work and not our own big ideas.

Please note that these are not all bad things, but they can easily be used that way. In fact, in the right context and under the power of the Holy Spirit, these can be fantastic traits!

Also, understand that this post is not a reaction to anyone or anything that has recently been written or said. There are always interesting and controversial posts on the internet. There always will be. I’m not going to attempt to subtly fight them off one at a time. In fact, there are plenty of them that I enjoy and that help me.

This is more of a “letter” to my fellow young leaders reminding us of how simple it is to take the influence we have been given and use it in ways that will do more damage than good.

We must use the internet as a tool for challenging and edifying. Will there be times and places to call out problems or challenges or to rock the apple cart? Of course! I have done it and I am sure I will continue to do so. The spirit in which it is accomplished, however, is of incredible significance.

May we always remember that we are to constantly magnify our Savior and not ourselves; even in our internet presence.

What are your thoughts?

A friend of mine wrote an ebook recently, and I told him I would post a video interview with him about it. His name is Josh White and you can find his blog at joshwhite.org. He is a talented guy who does a lot of media work for me. His ebook is Mind of An Artist.

Resources mentioned in the blog:

churchstagedesignideas.com

worshipsetideas.com

clover.com

Please know that I know very little about the websites mentioned in this interview. Please do not assume that I would agree with or endorse everything on them.

Feel free to leave a comment to let me know your thoughts!

Every so often, we have special services on Sunday night at Green Garden that are dedicated to focusing our attention on the Lord through certain songs, passages of Scripture, and times of prayer. The goal is to get our entire church family calling out to God about something specific.

Last night was one such service. Our theme was outreach. Next Sunday is our Open House service and we are asking God to bring in many lost people for that one special day. For that reason, we held a prayer service last night that was intended to bring our hearts together for the purpose of begging God to do something special on May 5.

Below is a copy of our service order from last night. Each prayer service, however, is different. Last night we showed several videos. Typically we don’t. I am only putting last nights in this post, but if you email me, I would be happy to send you one or two others that we have done so that you can get a better idea of what I am talking about.

Hopefully this will be a help to you! If you have any ideas of how you do something similar, leave a comment in the section below!

Video: Goulash Invite (Skit Guys)

Welcome: Matt (Slide: Why Evangelism Matters)

Song: Rescue the Perishing

Offering Prayer

Offering: Video – Sowing for a Harvest (LBC)

(Slide: Evangelism matters because people are perishing)

Scripture: John 4:31-36

Prayer: For the names specifically for Open House

(We did this prayer as individuals for our personal lists of potential guests)

Video: The Gospel in One Minute (youtube)

(Slide: Evangelism matters because it was Christ’s purpose)

Scripture: Luke 19:1-10

Prayer: For God to do a miracle

(This was open to anyone standing and prayer and lasted several minutes)

Song: In Christ Alone

Video: Soulwinning Quotes (LBC)

(Slide: Evangelism matters because it is God’s plan)

Scripture: Matthew 28:18-20

Prayer: That God would make us bold in our witness

(During this prayer, all the kids went up front where pastor prayed with them.

Adults spread around the room and prayed for every row that guests would be in.)

Song: Send the Light

Closing Remarks and Prayer

Believe it or not, I am, by nature, an introvert. If I had my way, I would stay home most of the time and avoid crowds of people. In some cases, I am more comfortable on a stage in front of many people than in a one on one conversation. It can be a ton of people and it won’t bother me. But if I have to walk up to a stranger and strike up a conversation, I just don’t like to do it. Unfortunately, that’s not good for ministry.

Recently, God has brought to mind that I am often too program oriented in my ministry. I arrived at this ministry roughly six months ago. One of my roles upon arrival was the youth ministry.

For the most part it was a disconnected group of young people. They are great kids, but they don’t really do life together in any way, shape, or form. Honestly, they just came to class because that’s what you do. My heart was to change all that.

After hours and hours of work over the course of several weeks, I had a plan. I hosted a big meeting with all of the teens and their parents. We had materials, information, schedules, a new group name, bracelets, invite cards, and even hooded sweatshirts with our new name on them. This was going to be the solution to my problem.

The meeting went very well. They all showed up. There was great food. They all liked the information and were really thrilled by what they saw. Then, the next Sunday two thirds of them weren’t even in class! What on earth went wrong?

In all the time I spent at my desk working on the program and schedules, and all the time I talked to my graphic designer and printer, I never took one minute to connect with a single teacher outside of the normal Sunday School class.

This past weekend, God struck me with an important truth.

God brought me to this ministry not to build a program, but to build people – and I have been dropping the ball.

I had a unique Sunday school class today and shared my heart with our teens. Here is some of what I shared them and what I am resolving to do in order to change.

1. Develop people before programs.
2. Teach to people and not at people.
3. Point people to Christ and don’t push people to Christ.
4. Develop genuine relationships.

I know these are all basic fundamentals of ministry, but they are easy to lose sight of. When I stand before the Lord, I don’t want to tell him that I had good programs, I want to talk about the people that He allowed me to impact with the gospel.

What are you doing to make a difference in a life?

A couple of months ago, our church switched to having growth groups in the middle of the week instead of a mid-week service. This, to us, is one of those preference issues where we weighed the options, prayerfully considered what the Lord would have, and then pressed forward confident that God was leading us in this direction.

Our pastor led the charge and cast the vision from the pulpit and in his own enthusiasm about the groups. From there, the rest of us in leadership caught the vision and began to build it up among our church family.

It has turned out to be a tremendous source of momentum and spiritual growth for our church. People are talking about the things they are learning and growing in their walk with the Lord. Here are five of the benefits we are seeing at Green Garden Baptist Church as a result of doing growth groups.

Consistency

There are more adults attending a growth group during the week then we had attending a Wednesday night church service. They are locking into a group and feeling accountable to each other to show up. It has developed positive peer pressure. Having more people more consistently under the Word is helping our church!

Relationships

While we believe that corporate worship is Biblical and necessary, having this midweek growth group has connected our church family in a special way. Friendships are being forged and relationships being strengthened in this setting in a way they were not before. Instead of people breaking up into their group of friends before and after a service, they are getting to know people outside of their normal circles. Even as a pastor, I am finding that it is far easier to build relationships while having people in my home for our weekly Bible study.

Engagement

It is very easy to fill a spot in a pew, move your mouth during worship, and put money in the offering plate and still not engage in worshiping God or encountering Him. It’s not so easy in a growth group. People are thinking about the content they study during the week and then come prepared to share thoughts and insights with the group. They are involving their minds and mouths in their faith rather than only listening to a sermon.

Schedules

By having growth groups at different times of the week rather than just one main midweek service, more people are able to get involved. Some of our ladies have a much easier time gathering at the ladies group on Tuesday mornings. Some folks prefer the middle of the week. Some are not able to do it unless it is a weekend, so the Friday night group is perfect for them. Whichever one it is, having multiple options has made a midweek Bible study for more capable for many of our members.

Discipleship

While we are firm believers in both the pulpit ministry and one on one discipleship, we also believe that ministry done in circles and not just rows is incredibly impacting. The goal of our growth groups is to see people discipled in their walk with the Lord. It is a great way to dig in to spiritual matters and answer some of the hard questions that are more difficult to deal with in a public venue.

As a whole, our church is thriving with growth groups. We didn’t change to be modern or hip. We changed because we wanted to affect the most amount of lives with the Word of God. Plus, the Bible doesn’t give specific instructions on midweek services, so we applied principles of stewarding our resources and time.

This may not work for everyone. If you do growth groups, you may find a totally different set of benefits. I’m not saying if you do them then this will be true for you. These are just things that are working for our church.

We want to be a church that is doing life together and provoking one another to love and good works. Growth groups are helping us to accomplish that goal!

Do you use growth groups at your church? What are some benefits you have seen?