Friday, April 29, 2011

A New Uth Group

So we came up with an interesting idea. What if Uth group wasn't a 1-2 hour "event" on Wednesday nights but it was relationship building time. We decided to start Uth group at 2:30pm and end at 8:30pm. From 2:30 to 5:30 we would hang out, talk, help them with homework and build relationships. At 6:00p we would eat dinner (that we provided, which is a whole other struggle in it self) then at 7:00 we would do a service. We would all go down and clean as a group as parents would arrive. People told us we were crazy and we would never be able to do this and maintain our jobs. Its weird but when GOD puts a vision in your heart you just know it will work.

This has been the most successful thing we have ever done as a Uth group. We have brought in more un-churched teens through our doors than any other local church (according to my talks with local youth pastors). Just to clarify, its not to just bring them through the door but to have a chance to share the love of Jesus with them. We have been blessed with the opportunity to hang out with teens from every belief system (or non belief). Besides GOD's hand, I give most of the credit to the growth to Wednesday's.

Out of this started an even more amazing idea. We asked the teens to meet at our house every Wednesday morning, an hour and a half before school starts and read the bible with us. My wife cooks breakfast and we start our Wednesday's  off to a great start.

We finally realized that we are not called to do church our way. We are called to do it his way. Its not until you surrender to this fact, that you will start to see change.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

The Transition

 Let me tell you about hard... We transitioned into the new leadership role in the Uth group and it was a test of faithfulness. They absolutely hated us. In their eyes, we were the reason that things were changing. No matter what we did to try and connect, they rejected us over and over. This was devastating to my wife. She already has issues connecting with women let alone teenager girls. Even the former Uth leader would tell them to give us a chance and we are only trying to help, but it was no use.

  At this point I figured how can it get worse so lets change the things that aren't working, because they are already upset with us. Some say this is a dumb move, some say this was a brave move. I say a brave dumb man is like a bull in a china shop. So we started. We dropped the name "Core" as the Uth group name and my wife came up with Uth. The idea was core sound like a select few (which the youth group was) and we wanted something that invited everyone in. Uth stood for, U connect to God, U connect to the world, U connect to each other. This went over like a ton of bricks. They said I hate it and through teenager temper tantrums.

  Over the couple of weeks we started to see something amazing happening. Teens that had been going to the church, who never felt involved in it before started to come to service. My nephew started to bring new kids from school. We started a slow growth. I think something happen in the "ORIGINALS" hearts because they started to see that we will no longer be inward focused but we will focus on bringing the world in.

  So then we decided, lets shake it up again and see what happens. I know what your thinking. Are you a gluten for punishment? Maybe I am... Maybe I am...

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

So where to begin...

I thought this would be an interesting way for my self to verbalize the ups an downs of this Uth driven life style and maybe at the same time, help someone else out there not feel like they are in this boat alone. First of all, we chose the name "Uth" instead of "youth" because it helped us create something unique for them and gave them a sense of ownership over a title that is already well established and already has ALOT of baggage carried with it. Now that I got that disclaimer out of the way... I will start with a "quick" how we fell into this role.

We ended up getting custody of our 12 year old nephew and decided that it was time to start getting more involved in church and being a better example. Through that process, we noticed a lack of helpers in the youth ministry and decided to start and help out when we could. After a few months, the main leader left her position to start her family and her right hand man ended up moving away. There we were! Just My wife and I, sitting alone in this daunting dilemma. Do we say sorry and just let the 5 (or so) teens dissolve into the church body or do we step up to the plate. We decided to take the reins and were lucky enough to have the associate pastor lead with us for a little while through the transition. He helped out for about a year, as we established relationships, and got licensed as youth pastors.

Now that you have the background, get ready for the stories and venting to come. We have been at this a little over 2 years and now have 30-40 teens. It has been a roller coaster of a ride!