This morning, I am starting my day in one of my newest favorite places; Chick-Fil-A. Specifically the Chick-Fil-A in Washington, PA. I am trying to create a few NEW habits, 1. taking more time to actually sit, study, and write, 2. watch my calorie intake, and avoid the expense of too many visits to Starbucks. Chick-Fil-A is local, inexpensive, and offers a quiet place with free wifi where I can sit, think and write. Has I shared in Monday's blog post, Taking Control of What I Can Control, I am attempting to be intentional with my life, my ministry, my dreams, and my family.
Now here I am with a breakfast burrito (440 calories), a glass of water (0 calories); which together only cost me $2.75. Free wifi, a quiet atmosphere, great worship music playing in the background, and time to sit and write. And it has occurred to me that a number of weeks have passed since a posted a ministry recap. So today's post is being written to share some of the things we have been doing in our ministry. Welcome to this weeks Weekly Ministry Recap!
Yes, it's been quite a while since our last recap, and much has happened. We have hosted a super successful first-time winter retreat with the new group. We took 44 students and 10 adults to a local camp for a great weekend of winter fun, minus the snow and cold. We've made it through our first Holy Week and Easter at the new church. And we've survived our first congregational meeting. It's actually hard to believe it's March 31st.
​But let's talk about what has been happening more recently. Here is this weeks run down.
High School Ministry :: Tuesday Night
Game Time: Wiffle Ball in the Gym Snack: Chips & pretzels, Juice, soda and water Announcements: We had 2 announcements - OneWay 2016 Dodgeball Tournament [ CLICK HERE ] - 30 Hour Famine coming up in April 2016 [ CLICK HERE ] Teaching Message: - MADE, Week 3 - Knowing Your S.H.A.P.E. (We'll talk more about this later.) Total Student Count: 16 Junior High Ministry :: Wednesday Night PSC Camp Night Game Time: Scatterball at the end Snack: N/A Announcements: - OneWay 2016 Dodgeball Tournament [ CLICK HERE ] - 30 Hour Famine coming up in April 2016 [ CLICK HERE ] Teaching Message: - Special Student/Parent Night announcing our Summer Camp Dates and Plans Total Student Count: 25 / Parent Count 4
Let me share with you a little bit of our recent series, MADE.
​ First, our MADE series for the High School Ministry. This was a great series. Simple to put together, but it came off pretty powerful, and I'm excited to where this might lead us as a group. The point of the series was to get students thinking about ministry, and how to use their gifts and talent to serve within the student ministry, church, and community. We started by looking at 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 and illustration of how the Church body is like the human body; many parts making up the whole. There is a fun little video on YouTube.com that we used as an into. It's call Mr. Potato Head Theology. (You can find it here; https://youtu.be/FeFdByvk5uo.)
​Week Two included a look at Spiritual Gifts. I made use of a website that I have found super helpful in dealing with Spiritual Gifts. The site is, SpiritualGiftsTest.com, which offers a great explanation of the gifts and an easy Spiritual Gifts Test that only takes about 5 minutes to complete. Of course when teaching Spiritual Gifts, you want to be aware of your church's doctrinal stand, as there a number of differing opinions as to the usage of Spiritual Gifts in todays church. Another great resource I've found helpful is Matt Chandlers sermon series on Spiritual Gifts. Matt is the teaching pastor at The Village Church in Texas. You can find his sermons among their podcasts.
We spent our time looking at the Spiritual Gifts that are listed, talked about them briefly, and then encouraged the students to take the Spiritual Gifts test online and bring in their results. For Week Three we utilized Doug Field's S..H.A.P.E. materials which helped students realize how they can bring the Spiritual Gifts together with how God has uniquely shaped them with their talents and abilities, passions and experiences, to DO ministry. We had the student begin filling out their S.H.A.P.E. Inventory that night. All of this is leading us to the recruitment of students for our new Student Ministry Teams. I am also organizing the materials in a way where I can share what we did and used. When it's ready, I'll make it available here on the blog. Over all, it's been a great week. I have a lot of things that I am working on as I get ready for our summer activities. Tomorrow marks the beginning of my 8th month at our current church. It's been great to be able to take this first year easy, just observing and learning as I go. It's something I plan on writing about later when I finish this first year, because it's really the first time I've come into a church and hadn't initiated a lot of change. Hope your ministry is going well! ​- jay
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AuthorJay Higham is a veteran youth worker of over 30 years; having worked with students in the local church and Christian camping settings. Jay is currently serving as the director of family ministry at a church, located in West Virginia. Jay has been married to Amy for over 25 years. Together, they are raising 5 kids, (4 boys and 1 girl). Jay is an aspiring author, blogger, speaker, vlogger, and social media junkie. He is passionate about student ministry, family ministry, and training youth workers to love and serve their students with passion and excellence. Archives
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