VELCRO: Concepts That Make Leaders Stick

Mark Twain once said that when he was a child, he couldn't believe how little his parents knew.  Yet, when he became a man, he was amazed at how much they'd learned.  The older I get in youth ministry, the more I realize I have a lot more to learn.

I've found  in youth ministry  it's extrememly difficult to relate to the students without being relevant to them.  I had a student one time send me a message on Facebook.  He was letting me know that he appreciated the fact that his "peeps think you're legit."  If you just had to ask someone else what that sentence meant, guess what - you've got a lot more to learn, too!
Relevance is a key aspect of youth ministry.  While I in no way discount the fact that the Bible is ALWAYS relevant, we as leaders aren't so eternally relevant as we age.  It takes work.  It takes time.  Most of all it takes consistency.

How do you stay relevant in youth ministry, even if you're old enough to be a parent to the seniors in high school?  Here are a couple of suggestions.

1.) Put Yourself in Their World - This has really never been easier to do than it is today.  Sites like Facebook allow you ready and easy access to see what's going on in their lives, their friends' lives and stay connected to them - all with a few clicks and strokes on a keyboard.  I've found tremendous value in FB, simply because the students post videos, YouTube links and other such mentions of current music, movies, tv shows, etc.  Most students, for better or worse, will bear their souls to one extent or another on Facebook.

2.) Be A Part of Their Lives - This is a tough one sometimes.  I've heard many people, and even some of you on Staff, say "I just don't know how to relate to the students."  So, more often than not, those who have that in their mind act on it - and do nothing.  Quick story here:  When I first came on staff here at CrossWay, Bekah and I had a conversation, wherein I said, "I have no idea why students liked me before.  I don't feel like I know how to connect with these people at all."  I was overthinking EVERYTHING.  Every word I spoke, every move I made - I overthought it.  "What if my clothes aren't cool?"  or "What if I sound like a doofus?"  or better yet, "What if they think I'm just not cool?"  The solution - I was who I was, for better or for worse, and I showed them that I cared about them.  Nothing lets you into someone else's world more than them believing that you truly care about them, and THAT'S what makes you the most relevant to them.

3.) Do Your Homework - Don't let this overwhelm you.  The internet makes things very easy in this regard.  Once and a while, I'll hop on Billboard Magazine's website, check out the top radio songs, and then I jump over to another site, Plugged In Magazine, to see what the Christian-based reviews are on them.  Occasionally, I'll also look to see what the top movies are, the top tv shows, the top video games, etc.  There are other areas that you can do some research on, too, without a lot of work - it's not limited just to media.  I check students' facebook pages, too, on a regular basis.  As I mentioned in #1, this is a great way to see what is going on in a specific student's life.  This kind of stuff is all very handy to have in the database of my brain when I'm talking with students.  When I say 'do your homework' I don't mean that you need to be preusing the internet 24/7/365 for stuff, but once and a while, you need to check in and see what's going on in their world in areas that they relate to, and chief among those is the various media with which they're surrounded.