“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” Proverbs 1:7 (New International Version)

I feel like all Christian leaders would agree with this statement. Throughout my life, since my conversion at age 9, if you had asked me if I feared/respected the Lord, I would undoubtedly have answered ‘yes.’ However, now that I am 64 and am looking back on 55 years of walking with the Lord and 53 years of Christian leadership, I have to say that I failed to truly fear the Lord and make Him the foundation of all my knowledge all of the time. And looking at how people lead, I would have to say that for many, even leaders who proclaim Christianity, and leaders in the church, the Lord is not their foundation, but a large amount of their ego is.

Jesus must be #1.

“You must not just discipline yourself to spend time with Him and his written word; you must want to.”

If you don’t want to, you’re not in love. What kind of man loves a woman but never wants to spend time with her? It’s not a love relationship if you don’t want to be together and miss it terribly when you cannot. When my wife and I first started dating, she was a resident at a college some 90 miles away. We missed each other terribly and looked forward to every weekend we could be together. We even wrote “snail mail” letters during the week, and hers always smelled of Ciara—her favorite perfume! We were sickeningly in love!

Jesus wants that kind of relationship with you. Love is what the church at Ephesus lacked (Rev. 2: 1-7). In this passage, we read about a church that seemed to be doing all the right things: they worked, labored, couldn’t tolerate evil, challenged apostasy, and endured and tolerated many things for the name of Christ and did not grow weary. From these acts alone, we would consider the church at Ephesus to be highly successful. Yet Jesus told them he had this against them: they had “abandoned the love [they] had at first” (v4). He told them to repent and do their first works, or He would come and remove their lampstand. He made it clear that He was not interested in a works relationship; He wanted love.

I’m deployed; where is Jesus?

I remember well when I first discovered I lacked this love relationship with Jesus. You see, I grew up in the church, not just going every time the doors were open, but learning to do God’s work from the age of 12; I was very busy in the church. Then, after I entered the Air Force and left on my first deployment and there was no church available, I found myself lost spiritually. And, that’s when I had to face some difficult truths. I realized that I had a great relationship with the church but not much of one with Jesus. But it was through this realization that He lovingly helped me to build it with Him, and from there I began to develop a deep love for His word and spending time with Him.

Solomon’s fear=New Testament love.

I believe this relationship is the New Testament equivalent of Solomon’s “fear of the Lord.” In his day, Solomon could only go to the temple for sacrifice and corporate worship. God was behind the veil. Jesus tore the veil in two and let God out of the box—now He desires daily communion once again with His children.

The fear of the Lord—that love relationship with Him is truly the beginning of all knowledge. Leaders, take the time to develop it.

Pastoral leadership is a delicate balance of the calling “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ” as stated in Ephesians 4:12, while at the same time dealing with the everyday “operations” of leading and attending to the needs of the church. In managing this balance, I have found that different leadership theories present strategies that can be applied within this context for pastors and all Christian leaders. Some of the most common leadership theories are the Situational Leadership theory, Transformational/Transactional Leadership theory, and the Servant Leadership theory-perhaps the most associated with pastoral ministry.

I believe that all three of these theories can be applied successfully to pastoral ministry. However, in this blog, I want to focus specifically on the Leadership Grid theory developed by Blake & Mouton in the 1960’s. What sets this theory apart from others is its focus on two variables:

• concern for people (relationships) oriented leadership

• concern for production (task) oriented leadership

If you are interested in finding out which of the two variables you lean more towards, to access a Leadership Grid theory questionnaire from Boston University.

Based on your results, you will find that you will fall within one of five different categories of leadership styles. The five styles include authoritarian, country club, middle of the road, impoverished, and team leader.

So, what does this mean? Let me explain.

Five Leadership Styles

1. Authoritarian

A leader with High concern for production and Low concern for people.
I think this is self-explanatory and none of us want to be here.

2. Country Club

A leader with High concern for people and low concern for production. Everyone will have a good time, but nothing productive will get done.

3. Middle of the Road

A leader with medium concern for both, people and production. This may seem ideal at first glance, but comes down to being mediocre.

4. Impoverished

A leader with low concern for people and production. It may be time to see your counselor.

5. Team Leader

A leader with High concern for people and high concern for production. There’s nothing like being excited about your people and your mission!

So, where do you see yourself? As you are self-evaluating, I think there are two critical questions to ask yourself.

Questions to Ask

As a pastor or leader, you can gauge your relationship with your staff and those you work close with.

1. Are you concerned with them as a person as much as what they have to offer in production?

You can apply this from a ministry perspective. Whether it is your main service, youth, children’s ministry, or media, I think you need to ask:

2. Is your ministry team focused on serving the people and developing relationships? Or, are they more concerned with the “production” side of their ministry?

Ultimately, it comes down to being genuinely concerned for the people we serve and work with, and not just about how well we can produce. Proverbs 27:23 reminds us to, “Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, and give careful attention to your herds.” Although this refers to shepherds with their sheep, I believe it can also apply to our role as pastors and spiritual leaders.

Jesus demonstrated genuine concern for people, while also meeting their earthly needs. Our primary goal as pastors and leaders continues to be the making of disciples and seeing changed lives! There is nothing like seeing peoples’ lives transformed by the message of the gospel! Perhaps you can find areas of ministry that can be improved in both, relationships (people) and quality of service (production).

Already, we’ve discussed the first four questions:

1. Can I find friends here?

2. Is this a safe place?

3. Will this place add value to my life?

4. Can this place help my life matter?

So, without further adieu, let’s talk about the final question that church visitors have on their minds.

Question Five: Is the speaker someone I could talk to?

Communication has changed dramatically for those of us who bring the “message” to a congregation. Today, how you preach–the energy, passion, and creativity–isn’t as important as what you say. People don’t come to church to watch preaching. They need answers, understanding, and hope communicated by someone to whom they feel connected.

Essentially, they are wondering whether or not the speaker is someone they can talk to. Okay, first, understand that they’re not planning to talk to the speaker. They just want to feel like they could because he or she could relate to them in some way. Preachers that convey a distant, almost superior persona don’t appeal to unchurched people. They want to listen to someone who seems to get them.

Here are a few takeaways:

1. Authenticity reveals anointing.

As John Maxwell made famous,

“People don’t care what you know until they know that your care.”

That familiar statement is more true every day. There has been enough deception and misdeeds by clergy that people are looking past the pulpit presentation and into the lives of those they choose to follow. Being genuine by living what you preach, demonstrating compassion to those in need, and really caring for those under your leadership will add more to your speaking moments than you can imagine. If you’re not real, your message won’t be judged as ‘real’ either.

2. Volume must be about passion rather than style.

If you’re from a tradition where preaching has been pretty active and energetic, understand that you won’t entertain people for long with clever alliterations or shouting and jumping. They want content, not entertainment. Today when someone says, “Boy, he can sure preach,” they typically mean he says a lot of really good things. A few years ago, that same statement might have meant the speaker really gets with it. Now, there’s nothing wrong with passion and energy in preaching, but it must be attached to your content and not just a mechanism for engaging the listener.

3. Message introductions are more effective when they seek to build relationship with the hearers.

The days of creative intros that seek to grasp attention is fading. It’s hard to impress people with a fascinating introduction every week so the best communicators use their introductions to enter the lives of their listeners and connect in ways that encourage people to listen to the truth they bring.

4. Responses to messages pack a relational punch.

When people respond to your message, whether in an altar call or a genuine effort to implement your teaching into their behavior, they are making a choice to follow you as a leader. Their response means they are going where you want them to go, and that places the speaker in a different place than in previous generations.

“People today do not separate the speaker from the message, so they will need to trust the speaker before they respond to the message the speaker brings.”

Final Thoughts

Being a communicator is a different life than being a traditional preacher. People will make judgments of your message as they draw conclusions about you. So you will need to live your life according to your own words, demonstrate genuine integrity and real compassion, and let people see that you care for their lives. If you do, you will find a new freedom in your communication with the people of this generation.

And when it comes to the unchurched, remember that the goal isn’t to be like them. Instead, be the person they really want to be.

Already, we’ve discussed the first three questions:

1. Can I find friends here?

2. Is this a safe place?

3. Will this place add value to my life?

Now, let’s look at the fourth question.

Question Four: Can this place help my life matter?

Baby-boomers have brought the “bigger is better” attitude with them to church for years, but a new generation doesn’t think this way. The mindset has changed significantly. They don’t see that compiling our resources will help us do bigger things. They simply want to make a difference, even if it seems small by baby-boomer standards. This shift in thinking presents enormous challenges to the next decade of church life as missions giving and large investments in facilities struggle to maintain current levels. Younger people aren’t impressed with bigger, and they don’t want to be a small cog in a wheel that imperceptibly turns. They want to matter–and “smaller ponds make the fish feel bigger.”

Today, younger people want to be involved. They don’t just want to write checks. They care about projects and specific missionaries. They want to go and participate, rather than stay at home and send somebody else.

Here are some realities that shape their thinking:

1. Even unchurched people have ideas of what a church should be doing.

The days of caring for spiritual needs while ignoring suffering and injustice in everyday life are over for the local church. If you aren’t trying to help the people right in front of you, today’s unchurched person will write you off as a social club–and maybe they should.

Helping people is what unchurched people think the church should be doing. And if they visit your church to find you are only caring for the folks in the building, well, they won’t commit to that.

2. You have to be making a difference in the social needs around you.

As a pastor, I saw this so plainly when some of my young adults asked if they could use a small part of our property to plant a community garden. They wanted to grow vegetables for people in need. My baby-boomer thinking couldn’t envision how they could make even a small dent in the need of our city, but I said yes. That year (and the next), I watched as dozens came to participate. Though only enough vegetables to help a couple of dozen families were harvested, the level of participation in the effort was extraordinary. And the joy it brought to these gardeners was beyond anything I could imagine. They wanted to make a difference, even if others might think the impact was small. It wasn’t small for the families they helped.

Remember that purpose drives participation. If I know why we are doing something, I’m far more likely to buy into that purpose and make the effort a priority. People follow vision, so where there is a vision to make a difference, people will give their best.

3. Nothing is more important in discipleship than involvement.

People grow as they do. If discipleship at your church is only a classroom experience, you’re not going to get very far in the work of making disciples. The real lessons are learned “out there” where the importance of message and ministry meet the pavement.

People are very busy with their own lives. But if you give them an opportunity to invest a few hours in something that really matters, they will jump at the chance. Those who want to simply write a check so others can do the work are a dying breed. Today, people want their lives to matter and want to see the impact of the work of their hands.

A Final Note

Don’t assume that every point of involvement your church offers will fill the bill. If the effort doesn’t seem to matter beyond our little circle, the people won’t find it satisfying for long. Open the door to real opportunities to make a difference, and you’ll likely be surprised how quickly people sign up.

It’s what they’re looking for–a chance to feel their lives matter.

Question Three: Will this place add value to my life?

A few decades ago, people faithfully attended church because it was their church. Sunday after Sunday, they demonstrated their worship habit as a real habit. Some were even so attached to their local church that they attended every Sunday morning and nearly every Sunday night and Wednesday night. These “faithful attenders” could always be found in their familiar pew location, ready to support the many activities of the church with their attendance.

Today, people consider themselves active in church if they attend even half of the Sunday morning services each year. Schedules have become overwhelmingly busy, peoples’ lives are crammed with numerous activities, and the thought of attending every single week just isn’t as common as before, much less attending multiple events each week. “Faithful” has a whole new definition in the current culture.

Here’s some things you need to know:

1. People trade time for value.

If you want people to give up precious hours in their overworked schedule, you need to communicate the value of such hours to their lives. When people recognize the value they gain by attending church, they will exchange a few hours for that value. The days of attending simply because it’s my church are fading fast. It’s hard to imagine, but there was once a time when people attended regularly even if the experience was boring and failed to connect with their daily lives. That day is long gone in most places.

2. Our values must be visible.

Think back to last Sunday…if I visited your church, what five things would I say that you care about most? Would those be the things you really do care about most as a church? If you want me to value what you are doing, make sure you value those things too. I’ve been to many churches that are simply following the same script they’ve followed for years and the meaning has faded. When our worship services fail to demonstrate what we value, we aren’t giving an accurate first impression to our guests.

If you want to connect with people today, be sure that the most prominent items on the Sunday menu are the things you really care most about. Let people see what is important in your church so they can recognize what you value and learn to find that same meaning.

3. Explain or lose.

Don’t assume people understand everything you are doing in your worship services. They don’t! Take a moment to explain things–especially those elements that differ from normal daily life. For example, if during prayer many people pray out loud simultaneously, explain why. If your church exercises various gifts of the Spirit, take time to explain what has happened. Remember that what people don’t understand makes people uncomfortable. If church isn’t user-friendly, you won’t gain very many new users.

4. People don’t care what you think, but they care what you do.

Actions speak louder than words, and they also have a way of either proving or disproving our words. People today want to be involved in ministry efforts that matter. They care about social needs. They want to donate to projects that make a difference. They aren’t always interested in programs that are designed solely for those in the church. They will find value in making an impact, so offer them ways to do that.

5. People want to know how.

Sermons that motivate and challenge me without providing clear steps to do what the message suggested will frustrate the modern listener. Don’t assume that the dots between good thoughts and good actions are easy to connect. Help me see exactly how to live what I’m being taught. A good approach to teaching/preaching the Bible is

a) tell me what it says/means

b) tell my why it matters

c) tell me what it looks like.

If I can’t connect the dots, I won’t find the value in your message and will soon decide that such messages aren’t worth my time.

In Conclusion

I’m not suggesting that we cater to people’s preferences or try to keep them attached to church with anything less than the truth of God’s Word, but if they aren’t finding value for their lives, they won’t justify the sacrifice of time it takes to be a part of your church. In the church, we have the greatest value one can find for his individual life. Make it visible, make it clear, and they will make the time to receive it.

Question Two: Is this a safe place?

“As people today become less trustworthy, insecurities are heightened and hinder people’s ability to engage God’s purposes for their lives. Sadly, they simply don’t trust like they once did.”

Of course, such uncertainty is understandable. Enough scandals have populated the air waves–even some involving spiritual leaders–that people don’t assume any place is safe. So people are entering our churches today with a different level of caution than they did just a decade or two ago.

Here’s a few things to be mindful of:

1. Trust is not a given.

It hasn’t been that long ago that church was a place one could go to feel safe. People had a certain expectation of ministers and church people, and they were seldom disappointed. But while only a few have had their trust personally violated, those occasions have drawn enough attention that nearly everyone entering your church is a bit skittish as they “check you out.”

2. People want to know you first.

The days of people casually dropping their babies off in the nursery are behind us. Now, the thought of leaving their child in the custody of someone they’ve never met just isn’t as automatic as before. Yes, she looks like a nice lady, and yes, this is a church, but many will choose to keep their baby with them in the church service and be highly offended if it’s assumed that they won’t. Since trust is no longer automatic, it must be earned–and that can take a little time.

3. People fear being exposed.

Safety doesn’t just speak of physical cautions. Feeling safe includes not making a fool of myself or having someone else do that for me. The greatest fear many guests have when they enter your church is standing out or embarrassing themselves in some way. Churches that make a public display of their guests cross a line for many. Their efforts to be welcoming actually have the opposite effect. Remember this principle–the larger your church, the more likely people expected to be anonymous, at least until THEY decide not to be. Demanding personal information isn’t a good first step either. Get to know people and let them warm to you at their own pace.

4. What people don’t understand makes them uncomfortable.

Another component of safety includes what they experience. When people are asked to engage activity that’s unfamiliar, most feel awkward–and that seldom leads to a good experience. If your church has some worship practices that seem beyond what the guest expects, you need to explain what’s happening and why or that discomfort escalates. If people pray out loud, raise their hands, speak in tongues, or display any other behavior beyond quiet listening, somebody better explain the what and the why. It only takes a few minutes, and it can be the difference between a “safe” experience and one that sends people away with no desire to return.

5. Quality children’s ministries matter.

Now, fun activities and great lessons are great, but in the area of safety, “quality” means that we look like we know what we’re doing. The safety of classrooms, the caliber of our workers, and the organization of our processes send a message about quality. If things look chaotic in a children’s classroom, parents won’t feel safe leaving their children in there. If things really are chaotic, children won’t feel safe either–and if they don’t want to come back, mom and dad will probably vote with them.

So, Look around your church and ask, “Does this place convey a safe feeling?” It’s a high priority question when people visit you today. Consider the steps you can take to demonstrate a hearty “YES” when people are wondering if your church is safe.

The questions have changed. People who visit your church have something else on their mind as they make their maiden voyage into your Sunday service. In this blog, Dr. Mike Clarensau takes a look at these new questions and offers some insight into how we can answer them most effectively.

So, let’s dive in with our first question which is probably the most important of them all.

Question one: Can I find friends here?

Honestly, this question ranks so far ahead of Question two that it’s almost impossible to overstate its importance. People need friends.

“As our culture becomes more fragmented, relationships have become more critical to our emotional well-being.”

And it’s not hard to see how desperate people are for quality relationships. They risk exposing their lives online, will attend just about any concert and risk any environment, just to find the connections their life desperately needs.

So some decide to give church a try. After all, in theory, they should be able to find a better batch of potential friends in the church than just about anywhere, right?

So if they come in looking for friends, what will they find? Will they find a church where friendly means we are friendly to each other, but you have to attend five or six weeks before we start really talking to you? If that’s the case, I can guarantee that they won’t be back.

Here’s a few suggestions:

1. Start calling new friends your “guests” instead of “visitors.”

I realize it may seem like mere semantics, but a guest is someone I have taken responsibility for. I will show them around, get to know them, and make every effort to be certain that they are comfortable and finding their visit to be pleasant. A visitor is someone who has entered of their own initiative. Now I know each one starts as a visitor, but I want them to be our guest from the moment they walk on the parking lot.

2. The parking lot – there’s the first place for us to be friendly.

Placing some friendly faces in the parking lot who offer a wave and a smile (and maybe some parking help) lets someone know that your church is a friendly place. Since friends is what they’re looking for, things look hopeful when I’m greeted by a lot of smiles.

3. Put your friendliest people at the front door.

It’s more important to greet people well than it is to give them a bulletin so don’t ask someone to do both. You can hand me a bulletin as I enter the auditorium, but at the front door, greet me with a kind smile and a genuine interest in who I am. That’s how friendships start. I’ve been to too many church doors where “bulletin-passer-outer” lady shoves it to me and doesn’t even say “hi.” Apparently she’s not a multi-tasker. Let me know this is a welcoming place by the wonderful way someone greets me at the front door.

4. Put some greeters in the auditorium too.

If you don’t, your guests won’t know where to sit and they’ll end up sitting by…well, you know. The best place for guests to sit is near someone who will be friendly. Don’t put them down front where they might get trampled by expressive worshippers and don’t let them sit in the back where there’s a whole other church culture. Seat them on the front edge of the middle and near people who will greet them and get to know them when there’s an opportunity.

5. We’re not a friendly church unless we’re talking to our guests!

We can’t predetermine who a guest will connect with. We can’t guess which ember of our church might become the life-long friend they need, but we can show them that there are a number of possibilities in our crowd. The more people who are friendly to guests, the more they will see that we are a place where they can find friends.

And that’s what they’re looking for, more than anything else…

Like many of you, I have been working from home when I would normally be meeting face to face with my students. Many churches have transitioned to online services on a variety of platforms. What to do with youth ministries has been a little more of a challenge. The in-person experience is such a strong component of student ministry because students thrive on community, friendships, and social interactions. In response to the stay-at-home orders given by many states, writer Christine L. Carter wrote, “Teenagers and college students have amplified innate, developmental motivations that make them hard to isolate at home. The hormonal changes that come with puberty conspire with adolescent social dynamics to make them highly attuned to social status and peer group” ( ). Taking away school, church, hang-outs, and parties has created a problem for adolescents. According to a , 40% of students reported feeling disconnected.

I recently made contact with some alumni working with student ministries to ask how they are ministering to students during these challenging times.

Q: How are you maintaining a connection with your students?

David Hankins, Angleton First Assembly of God , Angleton, TX
Insta: @belongym

FaceTime calls seem to be huge. I have middle school students who can’t get enough of them. I am trying to take one day out of each week to go and do a drive-by hello. I’ll take a couple of lawn chairs, set them up 6 feet apart in their yard, and text them to come outside. We’ll talk for maybe 5-10 minutes before I move on to the next kid. is big right now, so I try to do a minute-long verse-of-the-day devotional. I’ll save that video, and post to both Snapchat and Instagram so all my bases are covered. I also use all platforms to do games and contests throughout the week for $5 prizes that are mailed to the winner.

Tyler Peterson, Crossroads Victory , Montrose, Colorado
Insta: @unshakablestudentministries

The way that we are really working to maintain the connections with our students is by giving our leaders different students’ contact information so that they can stay personally in touch with them during this time away. We are also incorporating games like Kahoot, movie nights and Zoom discipleship to help us continue to build these connections. Instagram has been one of our biggest touch points because that is the social media service the vast majority of our students use. The way I view social media right now is as a tool that we can use to help us reach out and stay in contact with our students as well as a platform for us to spread hope and continue to be a light to our community. This is why I tag a lot of our students in our posts on Instagram because then their friends will be able to see it as well.

Daytrian Henson, Victory Family Church , Burleson, TX
Insta: @ vym_burleson

A few things I am doing is having small groups on Mondays and Tuesdays on Zoom, having Zoom call lunches, and texting or calling them just to check up on them. I have been using Twitch because some of my students actually stream games.

Dustin Wilson, Grace Community , Flower Mound, TX
Insta: @onestudentsfm

We are maintaining contact with our students by utilizing every social media platform and technology imaginable. When church services began to cancel due to the virus, we had to cancel our spring break activities. In response, we would host Instagram live Q&A’s with our students. Those were fun the first week and a half. When attendance started to struggle, we switched over to Zoom. This platform worked well because we could see everyone. We are working to schedule an Illusionist for the weeks to come thanks to Kyle and . We have been calling our church family throughout the week also. FaceTime, texting, and phone calls have been a big win.

Tyler Harris, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Insta: @harvestabq_youth

The keyword is “engage”. We’ve always used social media as a “bulletin board” for our announcements, but this has changed our intention to trying to engage them, call students to action, even if that action is, “vote for what movie we’re going to watch this Friday!” We’ve always used Instagram and text messages to connect, so we ramped those up to be more present. We started using YouTube almost daily, posting videos, messages, encouragement, worship, and skits. We’re using Discord to chat in text and audibly in their voice chat. After each online service, we play video games together, mostly JackBox. We’ve tried Twitch, but we’ve been most successful with Zoom calls, screensharing the game and playing on their phones. Instagram Live has been hugely successful and we used Netflix Party this past week for the first time to watch the all-time classic Nacho Libre together. So, we’re chatting all the way through the movie. My students seem to love talking in chat.

Luke Standage, The Power Place , Kennett Square, PA
Insta: @powerplacestudents

The biggest thing our Student Ministry is trying to do is be present. We’ve started doing a Daily Devo time at 12:30 PM every day on Instagram Live. In this Devo time, we are going through a devotional plan that I’ve encouraged all of our students to go through with us on the YouVersion Bible app. It’s been really cool to see all the students’ responses in the Bible app after their daily reading. Instagram has been our main use of social media connection for our students because it is the biggest platform our students use so that’s where we’ve tried to focus our attention. One thing I’ve really enjoyed is during our Daily Devo Times I bring on one of our Student Leaders on the Live with me. When they go Live with me it notifies me of the users that went live, so we are gaining access to so many new students that don’t even follow our account. One of the days, there were at least 15 of the Student Leaders’ friends on with us.

“After the call, the student was so excited. He told me ‘most of those friends would never walk into a church building with him but were able to hear truth online.'”

Q: What does your youth service look like now? How has it changed or adapted?

We use two different platforms for our midweek service: Instagram Live and Zoom. I’ll allow the first 10-15 minutes to be conversational, asking how everyone’s doing and such. The final 25-35 minutes are devoted to the lesson. Even though I’m doing it from home, I’m still sticking with the year-long series we started in January.

So right now our service has changed quite a bit. Instead of having a traditional setup with worship, games/activities, a message, and breakout sessions, we have gone to more of a coffee talk style, quick message, and then interactive questions to try and get our students to interact. With the use of Instagram, we have been able to pull in students and leaders to our services and ask questions and give them challenges to win prizes and points for our ongoing competition.

Right now, I am recording a message and posting it on Instagram and Facebook, but I want to have a set schedule for the week and doing a YouTube/Instagram live video!

Youth Service is different now. We try to keep our sermons short, as well as our worship set. We do run into some copyright issues be we did purchase the license to stream. We open with a welcome, encourage others to share and like our page. We then play a short video, move into a worship song, and have our sermon. After the message, we have a short song, and then a quarantine from home video. Our service time is about 30 minutes on Wednesdays, and even that may be a bit too long. There are lots of benefits to it though, we do reach a bigger audience. We have had over 100 views on our service week. Students do watch it, but also aunts, and uncles, friends and family tune in as well.

Our primary youth service takes place on Sunday nights at 5 PM on YouTube. We pre-record 30-45 minutes’ worth of footage the week leading up, five to six videos, put it all together in a single video, and premiere it on YouTube. During the video, we’re in chat-talking, commenting on the video, mostly just making jokes.

My wife and I bring a short sermon from our living room on Instagram Live. Then we have different Zoom calls for our various small groups. There’s a feature through Zoom where we can all join the same Zoom Group initially for a big group game and then split up into our Small Groups for discussion questions and prayer.

Q: What has been the response?

The response has been great! I think out of 35-40 students, 30 have been regularly showing up online, and the remaining kids catch the service on replay.

My response has been to really put aside what I feel youth ministry is supposed to be like and adapt/be flexible to where it needs to be with the way the world is right now. We can’t get upset that we can’t do things the exact same way we always have, but we have to be flexible to look at this as an opportunity to grow and reevaluate not only ourselves, but the way that we do ministry, and become more effective.

The students love our Zoom calls. Even if it is just us hanging out, they love the opportunity to be with friends and not have to really stress about what’s going on in the world.

The students have been tuning in, but they pick and choose the day and time. Students have been enjoying Zoom, but we have had a different crowd each time. Parents and families have been sharing and they are appreciative of what we have been doing.

If you compare our attendance when in-person to our attendance during our Sunday Youth Online, it looks like it’s higher than our in-person service. I actually hear MORE from my parents about their thoughts or their student’s thoughts on the service.

We have had really good participation from our Students for our services. I think the biggest key has been our leaders and small group leaders texting our students to make sure they are part of the night.

Q: What has been the most challenging?

Most challenging for us has been consistently reaching students. When we would have events and things at set times, it was easy for our students to schedule the time that they would come and spend with us, but with the change that is going on, we are all readjusting. I am working on a schedule of events that will go on every week, so that way our students can look forward to and anticipate those times and being connected with us.

Initially, learning to live stream was a challenge. We were able to work the kinks out until we moved into working more with the premiere feature. A major difficulty is that people pick and choose when they tune in. It is easy to pop out of the video to watch something else and then tune back in. It is also a common occurrence for people to watch it at a later time. With that said, the content is available and ready to watch whenever. Our follow-up Zoom calls on Thursday helped to provide some accountability. Technology can be a challenge when it does not work properly. We had to cancel one Livestream because Instagram refused to work properly. Zoom has worked much better, but we are sure to share the ID and passcode only to trusted individuals. We have not been broadcasting that info on social media.

It is actually a lot more work to prepare the content than prep for an in-person service. I work more hours now than I did before to prepare for less content. Probably because so much of this content has a much longer shelf life than just my in-person Sunday. If my game bombs on an in-person Sunday, most students can forgive and forget by the time we do something that’s actually good. Online, if we have an off week, it lives in video form forever.

The most challenging aspect has simply been just not being together. Also, the feeling of losing momentum. We had a group of students that had just started coming that we are trying to maintain during this time. I think it’s hard to stay connected with those fringe students as well through all of this.

Q: What questions appear to be on the minds of your students right now?

My kids all are a little anxious about what everything will look like once the dust settles. What’s the new normal going to be, or is this it? How can they stay active in their faith when their pastor isn’t able to do what he normally does as far as pushing and challenging goes?

I think a lot of our students are really thinking about their families, and the question would be, “will my family be okay through all of this?” A lot of our students come from families that live paycheck to paycheck, or pretty close to that, and so for them, I know that there is a lot of concern for just the well-being of their family. This is why we have put out there to our students and to their families as well, that we are here to help, through our church’s food pantry, helping with childcare if parents need to go to the store, etc. We want to continue to be a resource for our students and their families even through this trying time.

When is this all going to end? Will my parents ever get their jobs back? What’s going to happen to my last year of high school?

Students primarily have been asking what to do during this time. They have been asking what we have been up to. They are looking to discover the norm in today’s crisis. They miss their sports! They are adjusting to school online. In a strange way, I think they are more prepared for this time than most adults. They understand technology more than what I ever could. We are all doing our best in this ever-changing world and virus scare. Some things work and some things don’t, I am just thankful that all of our pastors are trying their best. We are also building a huge online resource without realizing it. We also have a great district that are producing great resources as well. The Gospel is still being preached, and it may be going farther than we realize around the world.

Our students are very concerned with the tangible – what’s right in front of them. So school, their friends graduating, their graduation, prom, youth camp, and having to live in their house nonstop with their siblings and parents. Tensions are high and grace is low after a few weeks of living together in quarantine.

The biggest question I hear is… Where is God in all of this?

*ThoughtHub is provided by SAGU, a private Christian university offering more than 60 Christ-centered academic programs – associates, bachelor’s and master’s and doctorate degrees in liberal arts and bible and church ministries.

I was seated on a 2,000-pound rodeo bull seconds away from the chute opening. The teenage cowboy asked me if I was ready. I couldn’t think of anything else but holding on for dear life, but I slowly nodded my head, questioning how a rational man of my age could find himself in this position. The chute opened and this wild rodeo behemoth took off, bucking wildly. Six-seconds later, I lay on the ground, covered in sawdust, and hurting like I’d been thrown from a moving car. Why? Because I want to live the kind of life that when someone says, “I’d never!” I can reply, “I did!” No one can take that equally frightening and exhilarating experience away from me. I own it forever how long my memory persists. I did not just pay $10 to ride a bull at a Cowboy Church. I paid $10 for an experience…and the worst bruise of my life.

The Experience Economy traffics in memories and bragging rights. There are three basic components in the Experience Economy: the memory or experience is the product, the transformation becomes the product, and it is what comes above and beyond the product.

Perhaps you have heard someone describe themselves as an “experience junkie.” That person lives for life experiences. Younger generations are reporting that they value experiences more than material possessions. There is something for the church to learn from Gen-Z’s desire to participate in the Experience Economy. Allow me to advocate for a biblical Experience Economy that does not promote a shallow entertainment experience or mere bragging rights, but rather offers the hope of transformation and fulfillment through an encounter with the biblical Christ. Kerry Taylor, EVP of MTV International and chief marketing officer of Viacom UK, stated that Gen-Z desires family, friends, traveling, having fun, and creating deep connections. She said, “As a brand, it’s our responsibility to find ways to deliver on that happiness.”[1] Is there anything on that list that the church cannot offer? You may point out traveling but a couple a mission trip with friends with whom you have deep connections because of small groups, and you have something a Gen-Z will find fulfilling.

3 Components of the Experience Economy

1. The memory or experience is the product.

People pay thousands of dollars for front row seats at a concert by their favorite artist or spend extravagantly to see their team play in the Super Bowl. It is the memory and the experience which they are purchasing. You may be thinking, “I wish people fought over front row seats for my sermons,” and I wouldn’t blame you for that way of thinking.

In the biblical Experience Economy, we advocate for a product that is intangible and yet firmly biblically-based. As Jesus said, God is spirit and we must worship Him in spirit and in truth. We offer a restored relationship with our Creator. We offer the forgiveness of sins. We offer hope. We offer the opportunity to experience love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control among other believers. We offer deep, authentic, relationships in the body of Christ. We offer transcendent experiences through prayer, worship, or a Spirit-empowered conversation.

“When people walk into our churches, are we offering an experience by which they create lasting memories?”

Are we being used by the Holy Spirit to deepen relationships and build community? Is the Holy Spirit moving freely in our worship experiences? If the space for experience isn’t made, you will find younger generations exiting the church for other fulfilling experiences.

Mike Yaconelli, the founder of Youth Specialties, wrote, “Why do so many youth ministries spend all their time talking about God instead of helping young people experience God?” Getting Fired for the Glory of God. Again, we want to have an experience at church, but we do not want one absent of the Scripture or its principles.

2. The transformation becomes the product.

I was able to travel to Israel for a tour of the Holy Land. Before I went, the tour leader told me that the experience would change the way I read the Bible. I listened but thought perhaps he was overhyping the value of the experience. After the trip, I knew he was right. In the context of the Experience Economy, the trip offered not just the opportunity to travel, but it offered the hope of personal transformation.

Many people make resolutions to lose weight. They are unhappy with their current weight and desire to lose the extra pounds. Look and listen to the advertisements for weight loss. The testimonials focus on the past condition and the physical, and sometimes emotional, transformation. Everyone wants the experience of transformation. We long to be changed. We pursue transformation. We flock to movies about transformation, whether they be superheroes or historical figures. Humanity is drawn to the hope of transformation.

Jesus did not sell a product when He recruited the disciples. He sold a transformation. “I will make you fishers of men.” The promise of transformation was enough to make them drop their nets and leave their families. Biblical Experiences will lead to transformation. Steve Taylor writes, “…experiences must lead to transformation and honoring Jesus as the master of human transformation.” When the Holy Spirit provides us with a supernatural experience, we must reflect on how that experience is leading us to transformation and honoring Jesus.

In one of our SAGU chapels, a student came to me during the altar time and said that he had been praying and felt two hands pressing hard on his back. He reported that when he looked up, there was no one there. He said he believed that Jesus or an angel had been pressing on him. I responded, “That’s great. Why would God do that?” He stammered, “I don’t know.” I challenged him that if God gave him a supernatural experience, it was not just for the purpose of having an experience-God wanted to teach or tell him something. After a few minutes of talking and reflecting, he said, “I think God wanted me to know that He is here, and He is with me.” I responded, “Great! The Word of God says that He IS HERE, and He IS WITH YOU!”

Spiritual transformation, life transformation, is the product in the biblical Experience Economy.

3. Experience is what comes above and beyond the product.

When I receive my tax document indicating how much my wife and I have given to the church, there is always a statement that says, “No goods or services were received in exchange for your contribution.” It not only is a legal statement; it is literally true. I may leave the church service with a big, warm, sweet interior glowing, but it didn’t come in a package. It is intangible. It is spiritual. The very meaning of spirit, the Greek word pneuma, is breath or air.

The parking lot, the foyer, the welcome center, the sanctuary. All are locations that can create an atmosphere by which visitors and church members are more inclined to an experience with God. How can the flow of traffic or the parking lot attendants can create a positive first impression? What is the foyer communicating? Is it a place conducive to relationships? Is the location of the welcome station easily identifiable and are the greeters welcoming? Does the sanctuary create a space where people can have a sacred experience?

In Conclusion

As you seek to create an atmosphere in which people can experience the Holy Spirit, remember that we cannot and should not manipulate that experience. We are space-makers. We are intentional in allowing the biblical Holy Spirit to be the source of the experience rather than our slick production values or our dynamic personalities. Joel Lusz wrote, “An experience without God’s truth is entertainment. God’s truth with no experience is boring.” And there is the essence of a biblical Experience Economy. The experience comes from God as the biblical Gospel is proclaimed.

P.S. Let me know the scariest, craziest, or most unique experience you’ve ever done.

P.S.S. If you ever want to ride a bull, let’s go together. I know a bull and I wouldn’t steer you wrong.

References

, Accessed on February 9, 2020.

Jay Delp and Joel Lusz,,Just Shoot Me! (Grand Rapids, MI: Youth Specialties/Zondervan, 2002)

Steve Taylor, The Out of Bounds Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Emergent YS/Zondervan. 2005), p 88

Honestly, the plan may not be working.

Truth is, in a setting where the focus lies on key elements like worship and hearing God’s Word, people often need to take a mental break–and guess when they do that? It’s in those few minutes where you read to them from a bulletin in their hands.

As a pastor, I was stunned at how frequently people didn’t know about the events we’d just spent worship time promoting. Pastors often like to think that saying it once gets it done (an idea that isn’t true in our sermons either), but the facts tell us otherwise.

So, here are 3 tips to help you make effective announcements!

Tip #1: If you’re going to make announcements during your service, make them stand out.

Try changing up the routines. Many churches have good success by using a vibrant person on a video to change the look of announcement time. While PowerPoint slides get the message out, if people aren’t listening they’re probably not reading closely either. If you have limited resources, you can make an announcement video with your camera phone and it will be unique enough to get people’s attention. I’ve seen other churches have someone make announcements from another part of the platform. Just moving people’s eyes from the pulpit they’ll watch all morning can help people pay better attention. Whether live or on camera, just be sure the person making announcements acts like they want to attend the events they’re promoting. Make it fun!

Tip #2: Limit how many announcements you try to make.

Three announcements is probably a maximum. Keep in mind that there’s a point when another announcement means I will forget the previous ones. Also, don’t put a really critical announcement in between others. Just like in preaching, make your first and last points the most critical.

Keep in mind that a pulpit announcement isn’t always the best strategy for communication or use of worship time. If the announcement is really just for a Sunday school class or a boys group, have leaders use the phone or email to get the word out. Only use worship time to announce things that large groups of people are invited to attend–like everybody, all the men, or all the parents and children. If you make an announcement that doesn’t apply to me, you’ve given me another reason to tune out this part of the service.

Tip #3: Be intentional with what you announce.

Only use worship time to announce those things that are a true reflection of your church’s vision and values. Choose announcements that show people who you really are as a church and what you believe really matters. If you’re passionate about relationships and community, then help people connect the dots during your small group’s announcement. If you’re announcing an outreach event, tell me why this is important to the church and why I should make this priority in my own schedule. “Why we’re doing this” is a better reason for an announcement than “what and when we’re doing it.” Announcements are a great time to let people see what truly matters our church, so every announcement should reveal the most important priorities of the church. A camping trip for the boys’ group sounds fun, but…

Bottom-line: trim the number, make them fun, and use your announcements to reveal your church’s greatest priorities. That’s what it means to be intentional during announcement time.