Do you love what you do?

Thomas Edison was a workaholic.  Every day he went to the office.  He worked on his inventions, had meetings with his team about what they could invent next, and thought of ways he could take what he had already invented and make them even better. 

If ever there was a man that seemed like a workaholic, it was Mr. Thomas Edison. In fact, even on his day off, he would go to the office and work.

One day his wife came to him and said, Thomas you work way to much. You take care of us. You love us. We are in need of nothing, but I fear work is all you do. Everyday you devote yourself to your inventions, even when you don't have to, you go in and work.  Tomorrow is your day off.  Thomas promise me that tomorrow you will do something that is fun, promise me you will do something that makes you smile, promise me that tomorrow you will do something that you love to do.  Promise me.

Thomas Edison, replied to his wife, Hunny you are right.  Tomorrow I will do something that is fun, tomorrow I will do something that makes me smile, tomorrow I will do what I love to do. I promise you that tomorrow, I will go to the office and work on my inventions.

Thomas Edison was one of the most successful men in United States history.  He changed the way we live. He impacted the habits of people.  Thomas Edison made the world a better place.  How?  He did what he loved.  Thomas Edison was passionate about inventing.  He loved what he did and because of it he made an impact on the world. 

Let me ask you this?  What is it that you do?  Are you passionate about it?  Is it fun?  Does it make you smile?  If you had a day that you could do anything...like Thomas Edison, is "it" what you would choose to do that day?  

Life is so short and the world is so jacked up.  Why not spend time doing what you are passionate about? Why not devote yourself to your cause (whatever it is).  Why not do what you love.  Who knows, if you do, the world just might be a little better place.

Nothing worth having is ever handed to you.

Proverbs 10:4   Lazy hands make a man poor,but diligent hands bring wealth.              

This is one of my foundational scriptures in life. I have never had anything handed to me?  I've always had to work very hard for everything I have. Anytime I've ever achieved anything worth while,  it's because I trusted God, got up and worked my tail off.

When I wanted to learn, I devoured books.

When I wanted to grow physically, I worked out for hours at a time.

When I wanted to reach more students, I visited schools, and did outreach events.

When I wanted to speak to leaders, I spoke anywhere, anytime, for anything.

When I wanted to write a book, I spent my Saturdays, alone, writing.

When I wanted to plant a church, I quit my job, built a team and planted. 

Proverbs lets us know that nothing worth having in life will ever be handed to you.  

What do you want?  

What is God calling you to do?

Roll up your sleeves and get to it! 

The best time to train your team is ____________.

A few years ago, I was traveling to a speaking engagement and I just happened to be on the same flight as an NCAA College Basketball team. As I sat there I noticed one of the coaches watching game film on his computer. While taking notes and making adjustments, he leaned across the aisle and began to break down the game film to one of his players, pointing out a few things he could have done better, some of the things he did well, and gave him a few tricks of the trade of posting up, and blocking out his opponent. 

It was really something to watch this coach in a real informal way, take advantage of the time he had to help one of his players improve. 

While watching all of this transpire, I was reminded of the way that Christ taught His team. 

Jesus often taught his disciples in the same informal way. 

Sure from time to to time he sat them down in a group and broke down some incredible teaching. However, most of the time Jesus simply took advantage of the time he had with them. Jesus taught his team while walking down the road, sitting by a well, or eating a meal together. 

Jesus showed us that the best time to teach and train is …. ANYTIME. 

Leadership and life lessons are caught more than they are taught.
From time to time it’s a great idea to train in a formal setting. However, if we don’t take advantage of the time we have eating a meal, driving in the car or watching a game, we are missing out on a great opportunity to model life and leadership to those we have been entrusted to lead.

How to speak to teenagers - Part Two: Hear from God on what to speak on.

With all the great speakers and messages floating around on the internet today, it’s very easy to hear a message from Ed Young, Andy Stanley, Matt Chandler, or Francis Chan and just take their stuff, reshuffle it a little bit and call it your own.

Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with listening to other speakers, getting ideas and points for messages.  However, when you stand before a group of teenagers you need to know that you have heard from God on what topic to speak on. 

If listening or reading someone else’s message stirs something up inside of you, that’s great. Don’t be afraid to use that information as a catalyst of creativity and content for what you’re going to say. However, before you get up on stage, make sure that you have taken time to get alone, spend time in prayer and wrestle with the text. 

If you want to make a lasting impact in the lives of your listeners, hear from God not just another great speaker. 

For more communication tips check out BUILD and YOUTH MINISTRY UNIVERSITY

How to speak to teenagers - Part One: WHAT IS YOUR POINT

Every teenager that gets into their parents car after the youth service is going to hear their parent ask them two very important questions. Did you have fun? What did you learn? 

As Youth Pastors, you need to make sure that students have the right answers to these questions when they get into the car each week. The best way to do that is to have a one strong walk away point in every message. Too many times Youth Pastors have too many topics in one message, too much content for one message, or get off on too many rabbit trails in one message and when this happens the teenagers leave not knowing for sure what they’ve learned. 

Here is something very important to remember when crafting your messages. 

"It is impossible for a student to live out what they’ve learned at Church, if they can’t remember what was said". 

Parents are bringing their teenager to your Youth Ministry every week because they need help in raising their child. Parents want to take their teen to a place that is safe, fun and where they learn something that draws them closer to Jesus and helps them become a better person. Parents want their child to get into the car and be able to spout out exactly what they learned during the service. This will happen if you begin to have one walk away point every week. 

Several years ago I started speaking to teenagers using just one walk away point in every message. In these messages I would say the same thing three different ways. Using props, stories and scriptures to solidify the one single point we where making that night. Very quickly we started getting emails and phone calls from parents saying, “What is Pastor Kevin doing every Wednesday night? My child gets into the car and can tell me every single thing Pastor Kevin said during the message. I love bringing my teenager to this student ministry”.  I have to say, when we first started getting those emails and calls, I started thinking to myself “Dang, I must be one incredible communicator. These kids are remembering all the points of my message”. Then it hit me. “I only have one point! It is pretty easy to remember one point, I guess I’m really not all that incredible”. The truth is, I wasn’t and I still am not an incredible speaker, however, parents have always loved bringing their teenager to our student ministries because their child actually learned something while they were with us. 

If you want to build a bridge to parents, and empower your students to live out what you just taught ... start crafting messages around one walk away point.

To receive more training check out YOUTH MINISTRY UNIVERSITY and our COACHING PAGE