FUSE & Elevate Weekend in Review: Leader Edition Volume #2

Weekend Teaching Series: Fantastic Four- Heroes of the Faith (Week 3 of 4) Mary Magdalene

Sermon in a Sentence/Big Idea: SERVING Christ requires SACRIFICE, but it’s WORTH IT!

Service Length: 73 minutes, this week went five minutes over our planned service time. I believe that was due to a split worship set (which we don’t usually do) going a little longer than planned. Other than that everything else ran smoothly. Small groups were right on this week; leaders did an effective job with the small group transition time. However, we will need to continue working on groups not interrupting other groups either because they are meeting in a similar area or entering the room before other groups are done.

Understandable Message: We are in a series called “Fantastic Four- Heroes of the Faith” This series is dedicated to helping students realize that the Bible is full of incredible stories of amazing individuals who define the word “HERO.” We all have heroes that we look up to for one reason or another. We’ve picked four Bible heroes that we think deserve our admiration and attention. This week we looked at Mary Magdalene. An unlikely hero, Mary Magdalene models how the little things we do can have a big impact. Her sacrifices to be a follower of Christ make her an example to all of us. Mary sacrificed her possessions, dignity, and time all to serve and follow Jesus. Sometimes the sacrifices we make to serve Jesus will be painful (as they were for Mary) but in the end it’s worth it!

Leader/Student Involvement: There was some good energy among the group this week. It felt like everyone was connected and engaged during small groups, the worship, and the message. It was exciting to see the students stay focused during the message which was a little more serious this week.

As a team, we are growing in our focus of connecting with students from the moment they arrive.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: Having an acoustic worship set was fun this week. It was nice to see how the students were into doing worship in a different way.

Music Playlist: Unchanging, Enough- Jeremy Camp, Follow You- Leeland

Favorite Moment: Trying to explain what a prostitute was while giving background on Mary and trying to be respectful of that sensitive subject.

Up Next: Fantastic Four- Heroes of the Faith (Week 4- Esther)

Fuse & Elevate Agenda Feb 28, 2010

Here is the agenda for this week in Fuse & Elevate.

Check it out to see the order of service, small group questions, announcements, leader announcements, and leader roles for each element of the service.

Fuse & Elevate Sunday Service Agenda-2.28.2010

If you have any questions, can not attend, etc please contact Pastor John.

FUSE & Elevate Weekend in Review: Leader Edition Volume #1

Weekend Teaching Series: Fantastic Four- Heroes of the Faith (Week 1 of 4)

Sermon in a Sentence/Big Idea: We all have a past filled with mistakes, but we can’t let that ruin our potential to be a Hero of the Faith.

Service Length: 70 minutes, the worship and small groups were on time this week, but the message went three minutes over. 

Understandable Message: We began a new series called “Fantastic Four- Heroes of the Faith” This series is dedicated to helping students realize that the Bible is full of incredible stories of amazing individuals who define the word “HERO.” We all have heroes that we look up to for one reason or another. We’ve picked four Bible heroes that we think deserve our admiration and attention. This week we looked at Peter and how he went from hopeless to hero! His past was marked by one failure after another, yet he turned himself around and became an incredible leader in the early church.

Leader/Student Involvement: There were multiple leaders gone this week which made small groups more difficult. There were several groups that mixed grades and were larger sizes. Leaders you were effective at managing through that and still connected with the students. Worship had a good energy this week. It would be great to see some more leaders plug into the worship experience with the students on a regular basis, and especially when leaders are absent.

Students worked well with the changes and we had a few new students. Let’s pray they come back! A goal here is to get the students mixing more as they arrive as opposed to all just sitting and/or standing around before service. Leaders let’s continue to focus on creating more community in this area.

Overall the involvement was good.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: It seemed like small groups being at the front of service was a nice change in creating some more energy up front. The students were connected with the leaders and the conversations were moving along through most groups. The students seemed to respond to the humor and stories in the message that connected to the big idea.

Music Playlist: Tell the World-Hillsong, I Will Go- Starfield, Take it all- Hillsong

Favorite Moment: My favorite moment was telling my Hulk Hogan story because it brought back old memories, many students knew who he was, there was laughter, and it connected well with the message.

Up Next: Fantastic Four- Heroes of the Faith (Week 2- Elijah)

Relational Youth Ministry & Student Participation- Check it out!

Hey leaders, here is a great post from Josh Griffin’s blog. Josh is the high school pastor at Saddleback Church in CA.

Below is an excerpt from his post. To read the entire post (trust me you will want to, and even if you don’t you should) follow the link at the end of the excerpt

“Here’s a little of what I shared at HSM Staff Camp this past week to my team as we focus on what’s next for HSM:

I think there is a direct correlation of strong relational youth ministry and participation.

When a ministry focuses primarily on programs and steers clear from getting their hands dirty in the real-life issues facing a student, growth will be short-lived. Now, please hear me on this – I love programs, I sometimes wish we had lasers in our youth room. But I know that while fun is very much one of our values and programs are very important – the best youth ministry happens in small groups, or one-on-one, sharing life. The best youth ministry happens when a caring adult is invested in the life of a student.

HSM is at a turning point in our ministry – I believe that we have two choices…”

To read the full post click here.

I would love to hear some thoughts about where we are at in this process, and what are some “growth steps” for us to take in the coming months.

Pastor John

Fuse & Elevate Agenda Feb 14, 2010

Fearless leaders of youth! Here is the agenda for Sunday 2.14.2010 in Fuse & Elevate.

Please read it over and arrive Sunday morning prepared to be engaged with the students, lead a small group (look over Day 15 Jonah & the whale in your books) and ultimately help to create an environment that is welcoming and engaging for our students.

If you will not be there please let me know.

See you all Sunday @ 9:45 =)

Pastor John

Fuse & Elevate Sunday Service Agenda-2.14.2010

Connecting with students in your small group

I have been thinking about small groups a lot lately (I mean a lot). I have been thinking of the high value we have placed on having small groups as a part of our ministry. How I have placed each of you leaders in this role, a role that can feel very daunting but is also extremely rewarding when fully engaged.

I wanted to share a few brief thoughts about how to practically connect with the students in your small group.

• Care for all

You’ve been given somewhere between 5 and 12 students (maybe more, which if that is the case I’m sorry!) – and we’re asking you to care for all of them. Simply put we are asking you to know their names, be involved in their life in someway, and connect with them on a weekly basis. We divide up the large group into small groups so all can be cared for. This is where you come in – be a minister, be an encourager, be a spiritual influencer, think of yourself as the pastor of this little church within a church.

• Pour into a few

There’s a few of the students in your small group you immediately connect with. Maybe it is a shared interest or a similar story – either way, you just click with them. So pour into them a little more than the others. When you’re on a break at work or running an errand, give them a call, send them a text or facebook message. Find out when their next game or after school activity is and try to go it (if you do this find their parents and sit next to them- great family ministry moment), then maybe take them out for some food or ice cream and have a conversation.

The point: there are ministry opportunities all over the place. The question is are you taking advantage of them to pour into a few students?

• Mentor one

After you have spent some time with your group and have gotten to know your students, ask God to show you the student who you believe He is calling you to mentor. Pray for them, give them extra challenges, ask them to step up and be a leader in the group. Connect with them outside of group, meet regularly and share what God is teaching you. Allow God to speak through you to shape them into a great minister and future small group leader. Maybe it’ll be the church kid who needs you, maybe it’ll be the unexpected fringe kid. You’ll know!

These are just some thoughts but I pray that they challenge you in how you lead a small group and pastor to the next generation of Christ followers.

Blessing as you serve students in your small group!

Pastor John

New Year’s Resolutions

This past Sunday we had our students fill out their New Year’s Resolutions for 2010. It was great to see them think about where they ended 2009 and how they would like to grow in 2010. On that note, my desire is for us as a team to really grow in 2010. I would love to get to the end of the year and celebrate how we have grown individually and as a team in serving Christ. So I would love for us to share some of or all of our New Year’s Resolutions with each other.

I believe this will be a great way for us to get to know each other even better than we already do, give us some specific ways to pray for each other, and also as a way for us to be held accountable in our areas of growth.

Thank you all for being an awesome team! I love serving with all of you and I look forward to a great year and a lot of growth in all of us.

Thank you for being willing to serve and grow with me.

Pastor John

Fuse & Elevate Agendas for Jan 10th & Jan 17th!

Hey everyone, check out the agendas for the next two weeks Jan 10th & Jan 17th in Fuse & Elevate.

I’m super excited to have some guest presenters joining us. This week an intern in high school ministry Dan Schuler will be bringing the message. Then on Jan 17th Pastor Randy will be kicking off our three week “M6.8-Do.Love.Walk.” series with “Do Justice”.

We have our first worship set of 2010 this Sunday so get ready to rock out. In our small groups continue to go through your devotionals and really encourage your students to take the devotional home and use it for the entire week.

If you won’t be there either of those weeks or have any questions please let me know.

See you all on Sunday, Pastor John

Fuse & Elevate Sunday Service Agenda-1.10.2010

Fuse & Elevate Sunday Service Agenda-1.17.2010

Fuse & Elevate Agendas for Dec. 20th,27th, and Jan 3rd + Leader Video

Hey my awesome leaders! 2009 has been a wild journey and I look forward to 2010 being even better.

Here are the agendas for our Sunday services on December 20th & 27th, 2009 and January 3rd, 2010.

Fuse & Elevate Sunday Service Agenda-12.20.09

Fuse & Elevate Sunday Service Agenda-12.27.09

Fuse & Elevate Sunday Service Agenda-1.3.10

Plus check out the leader video I have for you with some important information & dates, and more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iggPDZNOBsg

Thank you all for the blessing to serve with you every week.

Have a wonderful and safe Christmas.

Pastor John

Fuse & Elevate Agenda for Sunday, Dec. 6th

I trust that everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving!  Just a reminder that this upcoming Sunday is a BIG ONE…This Sunday is our family impact service in the little theater. The parents of our students will be joining us for service. We are having worship, a message (week 2 “our service” of our impact:water series) and then when you go to small groups with the student the parents will stay in the little theater for a parent meeting.

So yes, this means that everyone will need to leave the theater during small group time.

If you can please make it a priority this week to arrive by 9:30 so we can all be there, be prepared, and pray together John would greatly appreciate it.

Here is the agenda for Sunday… Fuse & Elevate Sunday Service Agenda-12.6.09

See you all then…Have a great week!