How to Deal with Complainers (Part 2)
Complainers have a clouded perspective. (Numbers 11:18-20)
- Reality gets more and more twisted as you complain:
(vs.5) “…we used to eat free in Egypt…”
(vs.18) “…we were well-off in Egypt…”
(vs.20) “…why did we ever leave Egypt?”
Rather than moving ahead with God, complainers typically talk about the “glory days” of the past.
- Complainers will never be satisfied even if you give them what they want.(vs.19-20a) They complained about having no meat and God said, “…You shall eat [meat] until it…becomes loathsome to you.”
Always do an honest heart check to see if the complaint is legitimate, but you’ll never accomplish anything if you’re constantly trying to appease everyone.
Complainers have a need for control and power. (Numbers 12:1-15)
- God disciplines leaders who are complainers. (vs.9-10) “…the anger of the LORD burned…and…Miriam was leprous.”
- Pray for your leaders who have a tendency to complain. (vs.13) “Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “O God, heal her, I pray!”
- If the complaining leader truly repents, receive them back to their leadership role.(vs.15) “Miriam was received again.”
Complainers fall short of their calling and potential. (Numbers 20:1-12)
Verse twelve shows that even the strongest leader can become frustrated and begin to act like the complainers in the group. In his frustration, Moses stepped away from his dependence upon God and said, “Shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?”
- Complaining robs us of our trust in God. The Lord told Moses, “…you have not believed Me…”
- Complaining robs us of our respect for God. God said Moses didn’t “…treat [Him] as holy…”
- Complaining robs us of our testimony for God. Moses did this “…in the sight of the sons of Israel…”
- Complaining robs us of our ability to finish well with God. God told Moses, “…You shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”
Gene DeVaughn has been serving in Student Ministry for thirteen years. He is the author of all Bible study curriculums offered by Redline Student Events for DiscipleNow Weekends, Retreats, Camps and Small Groups.
Gene has also written two devotional books for students entitled “FUEL: What are you driven by?” and “Unstoppable,” both of which are available at LifeWay Christian Stores. Gene currently serves on staff at Shoal Creek Baptist Church in Deatsville, Alabama. He and his wife Lesley have been married 16 years and they have two daughters Reagan and Gracen. Check out Bible study curriculums, Speakers, Worship Bands and everything else you need to custom build your own student event at www.redlinestudentevents.com
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How to Deal with Complainers (Part 1)
The first ten chapters of the Book of Numbers show the Israelites being obedient to God and enjoying His literal presence with them, but suddenly everything changes in chapter eleven. They went from obedient to obstinate…from worshipers to whiners…from courageous to complainers!
As we look at this passage, think first about your own heart. If we try to do ministry in our own strength, we’ll slowly become jaded and bitter. Without even realizing it, we will take on a complaining spirit ourselves. Beyond your own heart, maybe this passage will help you identify some complainers in your group or on your ministry team and hopefully it will bring some clarity as to how you can address it from God’s Word.
Complainers are contagious people. (Numbers 11:1-10)
- Complainers aren’t satisfied with voicing their concerns privately. They are openly defiant. (vs.1a) “…the people complain…in the hearing of the LORD…”
- They began to affect everyone in the group. (vs.4; 10) “The rabble…among them had greedy desires [and] Moses heard the people…throughout their families…”
The word “rabble” means mixed multitude. These were non-Israelites who left Egypt with them in the Exodus. As you reach new people, some of them will be complainers and we have to teach our students and leaders not to go along with it. Complainers will devastate the unity and momentum of your ministry! Deal with it lovingly and firmly or it will spread like cancer (use Matthew 18:15-17 as your guide).
- God was clear that He doesn’t like complainers. (vs.1) “When the LORD heard it…the fire of the LORD…consumed some…”
Tomorrow we’ll continue in this passage and see how a complaining spirit clouds our perspective and undermines our calling and potential.
Gene DeVaughn has been serving in Student Ministry for thirteen years. He is the author of all Bible study curriculums offered by Redline Student Events for DiscipleNow Weekends, Retreats, Camps and Small Groups.
Gene has also written two devotional books for students entitled “FUEL: What are you driven by?” and “Unstoppable,” both of which are available at LifeWay Christian Stores. Gene currently serves on staff at Shoal Creek Baptist Church in Deatsville, Alabama. He and his wife Lesley have been married 16 years and they have two daughters Reagan and Gracen. Check out Bible study curriculums, Speakers, Worship Bands and everything else you need to custom build your own student event at www.redlinestudentevents.com
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YOU HAVE A CHOICE
We have a billion choices everyday. What to eat. What to wear. What time to get up. What TV shows to watch. The list could go on forever.
Of all the choices that we make, most of them seem pretty small and insignificant. Wearing a red shirt instead of a blue shirt hardly seems significant. But what if our little decisions actually made a huge impact? What if the little choices we make ended up being huge?
When it comes to changing the world, of all the people that I’ve studied and interviewed, one common theme is that they all had a choice. They had a choice of how to spend their time, how to invest their money, and how to treat people. They could have spent their money on something else. They could have invested their time in other activities. They could have treated people completely different. They had a choice. And so do you.
Changing the world is a choice. It is not reserved for the few. It is not reserved for only the rich. It is not reserved only for the creative or brilliant. Changing the world is reserved for those that make the choice.
Today you have the same choice. You can choose to invest in things that will make a huge impact. You can choose to execute on that idea you dream of starting. You can choose to put it off (again) until tomorrow.
You can choose.
You have the choice.
GUEST POST:
Greg Darley is a social entrepreneur with Backstage Impact, frequent speaker at events, and founder of BackstageLeadership.org. He is the author of Passion Is Not Enough. Greg graduated from Clemson University, has his Master’s from Liberty Theological Seminary and is a graduate of BreakPoint’s Centurion Program, a Biblical worldview training program with Chuck Colson. He lives in Greenville, SC with his wife and two kids. He can be reached at GregDarley.com.
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SUMMER CAMP 2012 AVAILABILITY
If you’ve not yet booked a speaker for your summer camp 2012, I have several weeks open next summer and would love to serve your ministry. I’m only booking one camp for 2012 as the summer is pretty packed already. I spent three summers in seminary serving as camp pastor speaking to groups twice a day for the majority of the summer, and I’d be honored to serve your ministry.
If you’re interested, send me an email at matt.lawson@fbcw.net
You can see a few of our epicenter messages here – www.vimeo.com/woodstockhsm
Speaking schedule is here – http://revolutionspeaks.wordpress.com/schedule/
LOOKING FOR A FREE MESSAGE SERIES FOR LARGE GROUP GATHERINGS? CHECK OUT THE FLOOD SERIES.
If You Think You Need an App
I’m not fully convinced of the need for a general app for our student ministry but if/when I am, we will likely given it a go with a FREE app from Conduit. It would take a few extra steps and some work from our staff, but we could make it work for the purpose of podcast, videos, announcements, devotions, social media, and contact info.
If you think you need one, this seems like a great solution for FREE http://mobile.conduit.com
IF YOU’RE NEW HERE, YOU MIGHT WANT TO SUBSCRIBE THE THE RIGHT >Top 100 Youth Baptisms 2010
The Southern Baptist Convention releases an annual baptism report based on feedback from 45,000+ churches. Historically, baptism has been the barometer for Southern Baptist in terms of evanglistic efforts. The 2010 reports were released this past week.
Top 100 Churches in Youth Baptisms, 2010
Top 100 Churches in Total Baptisms, 2010
Top 100 Churches in Adult Baptisms, 2010
I’m grateful and humbled by our Pastor, students, leaders, and staff for being a small part of 233 student baptisms in 2010.
There are some great churches and ministries represented in this list. If you’re a Youth Pastor looking for advice on reaching students, I would encourage you to use this list as a calling guide and dial some of the Youth Pastors from these churches. Earlier this year, my friend and fellow Student Pastor, Brian Mills issued the 12 a Year Challenge. I encourage all Student Ministry leaders to both read and heed the challenge!
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Guest Post: Four Essentials For the Leader Who Leads Me
If you could tailor make the attributes of the person that you directly answered to, what would they look like? How would you shape them to best be able to connect with your heart and lead you and those you lead into greatness? I’m grateful to serve with a pastor who understands me and allows me to be me while he calls me to walker deeper with Jesus. Here are a few of the qualities that I see as important from a leader who guides.
1. Clear expectations with regularly scheduled meetings.
I thrive in an environment of clearly defined expectations. I’m not one who needs to be told everything to do but I love knowing where the target is that my supervisor wants me to aim for. The greatest problem with most relationships (both working & personal) is non-verbalized expectations. Meeting with my supervisor on a weekly or bi-weekly basis allows for clear communication to take place and it allows me to know if the direction I’m going fits the overall direction of the team.
2. Having a voice.
I’ve always felt that if I’m good enough to be on the team but not good enough to contribute ideas and concepts then I’m clearly not good enough for the team. One of the fastest ways to begin to chip away at the ‘mojo’ of a leader is to not include them in discussion about the direction of the church. I’ve fortunate to serve with a team that values my opinion.
3. The right to have open conversations.
I hate passive aggressiveness. If someone wants me to do something or has a problem with something I have done or I’m doing, just tell me. I love when I know that I don’t have to look for messages in an undercurrent of communication. It’s healthy to know that you can approach your supervisor if you disagree or have a problem with a direction (in the context of respect & knowing your own position) so that it can be further explained. No conversation should be off limits if you never lose sight of the fact that you guys are wearing the same jersey. Fear on a team will disable it eventually.
4. Regular “Atta boys”
All team members wonder from time to time how their supervisor sees them. A hand written note, a verbal “good job” in staff meeting or in front of church members goes a long way to build their self-esteem and leads to longevity.
But don’t forget, it’s unrealistic and hypocritical if I desire to be led in these ways if I’m unwilling to lead those under me the same way. Make a list today of what you would like in your leader and see if you measure up to the same standards. It’s a marathon, so stick with it and trust God to continue to shape you into the leader that He has called you to be.
What are a few qualities that are important to you?
Stephen Dervan is the Pastor to Students at Faith Baptist in Bartlett, TN. He also played Wayne in the movie Fireproof.Catch up with him on twitter or his blog, Cereality.
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FREE MESSAGE SERIES: Flood
FLOOD was a message series we premiered at EPICENTER fall 2011. The overarching theme was GRACE. Rarely do we take series ideas from a book, but Andy Stanley’s book The Grace of God was too good to pass up. Feel free to take any of the ideas, notes, etc and use them for your group.
FLOOD Series Planner
FLOOD Week 1 notes
FLOOD Week 2 notes
FLOOD Week 3 notes
FLOOD Week 4 notes
Due to copyright, we can’t make available the drama scripts. However, we used the Skit Guys scripts on grace. You can find each of them here:
http://skitguys.com/scripts/item/grace
http://skitguys.com/scripts/item/peter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9IOZfZBb4g - Watch the 4 skits we used here.
Because our graphics were outsourced, we can’t make them available for free. If you would like to use the above logo for the series, you can get in touch with @sidekickceo by Twitter or email aaron@sidekicksolutions.us.
For stage set and background to highlight the series theme, we used a moving underwater graphic and played rain drops over the sound system during the message.
If you take advantage of this series, it would be awesome if you tweeted about it or linked back to it!
ENJOY THE ABOVE SERIES! NO STRINGS ATTACHED. WE WOULD LOVE IT HOWEVER IF YOU SUBSCRIBED TO THE RIGHT! NO PRESSURE!
FREE MESSAGE SERIES: Reel Truth For Christmas
REEL TRUTH FOR CHRISTMAS was a message series we premiered at EPICENTER in December 2011. We’ve never taken movies and developed a message series before. However, we wanted to mix it up for a couple weeks at EPICENTER and draw some truths out of 4-5 movie scenes each week. For week 1, we used the movie ELF. For week 2, we used the movie A Christmas Story. Feel free to take any of the ideas, notes, etc and use them for your group
RTFC Week 1 notes – ELF
RTFC Week 2 notes – CHRISTMAS STORY
Week 1 powerpoint notes
Week 2 powerpoint notes
RTFC Game Week 2 – Christmas Story Trivia
RTFC Game Week 1 – ELF
Unfortunately, we cannot make graphics available for this series.
If you take advantage of this series, it would be awesome if you tweeted about it or linked back to it!
ENJOY THE ABOVE SERIES! NO STRINGS ATTACHED. HOWEVER, WE WOULD LOVE IT IF YOU SUBSCRIBED TO THE RIGHT →
GUEST POST: The Teaching Starts When the First Student Shows Up
Something that I have learned over the years is that the teaching starts the minute the first student shows up. The way that you greet students makes a huge impact on their decision to pay attention to your teaching time later on that evening.
Here are a few things that need to be done when a student shows up to your program, small group, etc.
Call students by their name – If you know the students make sure that you call them by their names. I have often said that the most valuable thing a student owns is his/her name. By calling them by name you have shown that they are valuable to your ministry.
Ask students about their week – You may not get a whole lot out of the question, but keep asking them. You never know when they will come to you and share something important going on. One thing that I’ve done before in small group is to have students share if they’ve had a good week or bad week and why it was a good or bad week.
Let students know that you are glad to see them – Just saying those few words lets them know that you care and are excited that they are at your program.
This whole process may only take a minute, but sometimes students will really stop and share with you some things that are going on in their life. Make the most of the first few minutes when a student walks into your program because it will set the tone for their time with you.
Adam Reed is the Middle School Pastor at Prince Avenue Baptist in Athens, GA. You can find him over at Life in the Middle.
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What Matters Most: 3 Priorities for Small Group Leaders
This was our volunteer leadership training for November. The three purposes our small groups leaders are recruited to fulfill are REACH, TEACH, & RELATE. This session defines these three purposes and then identifies what a WIN looks like both inside the small group teaching hour and then outside that time.
You can download the training here [Word doc] → What Am I Doing
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The Cost of Being a Leader/Teacher
Some thoughts from a recent staff meeting on what it costs to be a leader/teacher…
Study Self Discipline
Time Representative of the Church
Energy Servant
Relationships Fellowship
Family Sacrifice
$ Devotion
Emotional Mess of Ministry
Physical Failure
Risk Pressure to Perform
Inspected Integrity
Leaders, thanks for WHO you are and WHAT you do!!
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Removing the Clutter
Things I’m currently doing or about to implement to help remove clutter from my life.
1. Clean my desk off before leaving for a trip
2. Wash and clean my car every two weeks
3. Clearing out my email inbox weekly
4. Forcing myself to make Saturday a true sabbath with no engagements or responsibilities
5. Leaving my cell phone in another room at night when I’m home with family
6. Practicing being “fully present” when I’m at home or engaged in conversations with others
WHAT’S HELPING YOU REMOVE THE CLUTTER?
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Quotes From Re:invent Conference Night 1
DR. JIM BURNS
PARADIGM SHIFTS IN YOUTH MINISTRY
#1 Discipleship begins at the home
#2 Teach them to be students of the culture
#3 You got to lead (set the example of integrity)
JIM BURNS COMMITMENT TO HIS WIFE
#1 She has veto power over my schedule
#2 Non-negotiable date night
#3 Only out 3 nights a week
JIM BURNS QUOTES
Don’t get to busy doing important things to miss important things
If you’re gonna help kids stay in the church, you’ve gotta help the family stay healthy
Is the work I’m doing destroying the work inside of me
