Modern BelieverCulture Changes. God Doesn't.

I got a pretty good taste of youth ministry as one of the head youth leaders in a community youth group for 3 years. There were a lot of very unique challenges, the least of which had to do with the kids. Multiple churches being involved, with volunteers from several denominations, each with their own thought process often made things … interesting. It didn’t help that some of the most vocal complainers hadn’t done any significant work with youth in the church since the ’80s.

Nevertheless, it was an experience I cherish, and has helped me a lot in my personal walk, just by the unique challenges that forced me out of my comfort zone. Now that I’ve moved to a much bigger town, and a much bigger church, I spend a significant amount of time trying to make life easier for the youth pastor. With my own experience running things, especially the setup and cleanup for each and every event, I know how valuable a reliable helper can be, and I do my best to be that helper, and allow him to put more focus on the kids, instead of the chairs.

Life In Student Ministry has been a valuable resource for me, and I suspect those being paid to work with youth find it just as valuable. Recently they put together a list of things to be wary of when looking at your next church. Some biggies follow.

1. Yeah, we have our vision statement written down somewhere. Hold on, let us find it and we’ll get back to you.

5. The salary might not look good on paper, but there are many other benefits to this job than money.

6. Will your wife lead a small group of girls?

9. Are you an outreach guy or a discipleship guy?

13. We’ve had three bad youth pastors over the past three years.

15. From sr. pastor, “This is my church. I run my church. Welcome to my church.” And other repeated usage of the phrase, “my church.”

This one goes out to all of you working with youth. Sometimes you just need a quirky video to get things rolling.

We all have things we pick up after some time. Tim Schmoyer posted 10 things he wished he’d known about youth ministry before he started. I can definitely echo a couple of them.

1. It’s very emotional, unlike any other job. You’ll experience the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows.

8. Kids don’t really care how “cool” you are or how well you know scripture as much as they care about how much you love them as individuals, not as a group.

Alright, every blog needs a first post, so this will be ours.

We’re still working a few kinks out, playing with a few design aspects, rocking some social media (yay Twitter! Come follow us!), and finishing up a few things here and there, but we hope to launch on October 26th. That’s correct, next week Monday!

After hanging out on Twitter for a couple years, gaining some great friends, meeting amazing people who always help others, and discovering some fantastic content from across the web, a calling was felt to help bring this content to others! It’s tough being a Christian in today’s culture. It’s even tougher if you’re trying to live a Christian life pleasing to the Lord. It’s tougher yet if you work in ministry, volunteer in ministry, or are trying to reach out to help those around you.

But what if there was a place on the web that you could go to find helpful resources? What about a place that can encourage you? Give you inspiration to try something new? Or a place to learn what has worked for others, and how they did it?

We hope to be such a place. We’ll be scouring the web for fantastic content that can help you as a believer in this modern culture. We’ll only be giving you tidbits of it, instead giving you a link to see it in all of the original glory the author brought it out as. We want to make it easier for you to grow in your walk with the Lord. There’s already not enough time in the day, let us help by gathering the best content from around the web in one spot. Let us find it for you.

We aren’t perfect though. Maybe you find something great that you think we should know about. Send it in! Send us a message with a link on Twitter, or zip us a quick email ( tips@modernbeliever.com ). We’ll be sure to take a look at it. We’ve got a good start on monitoring sites with a track record of amazing stuff, but don’t be afraid to send in your suggestions!

You might not agree with everything that gets said here, so feel free to leave a comment, we’d love to see it! We all grow in Christ with FRIENDLY debate and discussion. If something gets out of control we won’t hesitate to shut down the comments on a post, but as good brothers and sisters in Christ, it shouldn’t ever come to that.

So be watching, Modern Believer is coming soon! Hopefully we can be a small light in this world, helping other lights to shine brighter! Pray for those behind this site to stay motivated and alert, and to follow the Lord’s guidance. As we put some ads and sponsorships up, please click through to them. It is going to take a lot of time and money to keep this going, and we’ve got bills to pay just like everyone else.

Tell all your friends that Modern Believer will be up and going soon!

In Christ,

Shawn

PS Jesus <3 You!