NYLC 2012 Part 3

ROBERT MADU--Approval Addiction

-"God will work ON you while He works IN you!" (How many have prayed for someone who was struggling with the SAME thing you are?)

-"If you are gifted in the church-world, it tends to erase a multitude of sins! (unfortunately)"

-"Addiction doesn't just resonate with drugs and alcohol."

-"APPROVAL ADDICTION...we are wired for approval!"

-"We drink to the approval of man but what happens when the bottles empty? We will do ANYTHING for another drink!"

"God gave Jesus approval at the BEGINNING of His ministry (Matt 3)...before He had done ANYTHING!!

-"Approvaholics are intoxicated with insecurity. Insecurity is Satan's attempt to get you to focus on YOURSELF and not GOD. Intimacy with God eliminates insecurity."

-"Approvaholics constantly crave comparisons. You can ONLY be who GOD has called YOU to be!"

-"Approvaholics want to beat others! We should all have the SAME MISSION but DIFFERENT VISIONS! We often pray more for the church thousands of miles away more than the church 2 blocks away!"

-"Approvaholics function on how they FEEL instead of their FAITH. Remember the voice of your Father!"

ANDY STANLEY -- Communicating 

-"Jesus views sinners as a lost son that He's waiting on to return."

-"Once Jesus got everyone EMOTIONALLY involved, He could get them THEOLOGICALLY involved! APPROACH TRUMPS CONTENT" Don't use so much theologically jargon...a lost person DOESN"T GET IT!

-"18-25 year olds are NOT leaving the church because of the truths of the scripture but because the APPROACH is ALL WRONG!"

-"What is my GOAL in communication?" Should be to be HELPFUL...Someone may not "get the Jesus thing"...but they will come back next week because you HELPED them!

-"Jesus appealed to a common emotion...point to an emotion or a "mystery question".

-"Who is this about...really? Go after the most difficult person to reach when delivering a sermon."

-"What's your BURDEN? Don't let it get lost trying to FILL THE TIME! MEMORABLE is PORTABLE. Let them out with ONE line they can take with them and remember!! (e.g. "Purity paves the way to intimacy", "Do for ONE what you wish you could do for EVERYONE!", "Your irresponsibility will become someone's responsibility!") 

-"What's the TENSION? Tension creates interest! Church's don't want to talk about pressing matters anymore!

-"Do you OWN it?" Don't read your notes...the people won't think you OWN it...so why should they?

-"Are you allowing the text to speak?"

*Part 4 coming later!

NYLC 2012 Part 2

Another post from the National Youth Leaders Conference.

MARK BATTERSON

"If you know how to PRAY, you know how to lead, preach, etc."

-"You're one prayer away from a better life."

-"Prayer is the difference between what YOU can do and what GOD can do."

-"We are so TIRED because WE keep fighting for God - let God fight for YOU!"

-"You will never break the sin habit without the the habit of prayer."

-"If you don't risk your reputation, you will never establish God's reputation."

JUDAH SMITH

-"Principles, information, and data will not make you whole. We don't need someone in the pit WITH us, we need someone OUTSIDE of the pit - Jesus - He's the only one qualified for the human soul. Don't desert the only one you've got!"

-"It's not about recognizing how bad or good we are. It's about recognizing His sufficient grace."

-"Step BACK and let the Son step UP!! Religion always tell man to step up!!!"

PERRY NOBLE

-"In John 6 is the story of the feeding of the 5,000. We all look at the BOY as the HERO in this story...when actually it's the person who made his LUNCH that is the hero...(that is us, youth workers...we just need to make the lunch!!)"

-"We need to teach students to RECOGNIZE Jesus (someone had introduced this little boy to Jesus...He knew that Jesus had performed miracles and he knew that Jesus could use his lunch!"

-"Teach students to TRUST in Jesus! We can't tell kids "you can do whatever you want to if you believe in yourself!" We won't get anyway in life believing in OURSELVES!

-"If you ever think of giving up on a kid, think about where you would be if God had given up on YOU"

-"RELEASE them to Jesus! The younger generation may not worship the way the older generation does...but respect the way they choose to love Jesus!!!"

-"Don't FIGHT youth ministry, FUND it!" MTV and Disney have reached your student...because they've put MONEY into it! Why can't the church?!!!

**More to come :)

NYLC 2012

These past few days, Husband and I have  been in Atlanta, GA for the National Youth Leaders' Conference put on by Jeanne Mayo. Let me just honestly say...those that think ministry is "the easy way out" or "a job where you just go on fun trips and eat a lot"...you are wrong. There are many days that Husband and I both want to throw in the towel and the majority of days we feel as though our efforts go in one ear and out the other and we sit and say, "are we really making a difference?" But as Husband says, "When you want to be just OKAY in ministry, the devil will do everything to keep you IN ministry but when you want to be the BEST in ministry, the devil will do everything to keep you OUT!!" (he stole that from one of his professors but it's something we both live by!) So we welcome hardships in our lives but of course it doesn't come without pain and tears.

Youth leaders are always taking their ministry somewhere...camp, retreats, mission trips, even Carowinds but they're always doing all the work once they get there. Praise God that there was a conference specifically for youth workers where we could be the ones to go to and re-fill.

There is SO much to be re-told from this conference that I'm going to split it up into a few different posts because if you're anything like me...you don't read long blog posts ;)

JEANNE MAYO

-"If you define your success based on the number of people you have, then Jesus failed miserably because His crowds got SMALLER."

-"You lead people through your strengths but you reach people through your WEAKNESSES"

-"People focus on the stage but God focuses on the altar!"

-"What happens more in your ministry? PERFORMANCE? or SURRENDER?"

-"Some spend more time picking out a car than building their character!!"

-"The ultimate question is not WHAT you want to DO but WHO you want to BE!"

-"Character is not essential to leadership (sadly)"

-"It's super easy in the ministry world to be a "poser"...We talk a big game but don't practice/live what we preach!"

-"There's often very little correlation between ministry success and spiritual success."

-"There is no cramming for tests of character...they usually come in the form of a POP QUIZ!"

-"Character is personal but not private!"

-"You want people to correct you but you make people pay too much for it!!!"


*I'm going to post her last message, "Contender" as a separate entry later on...check back for it...it's good!!