Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

We've been promoting our HSM Summer Camp like crazy for the past few weeks. It was obvious that every student who walked through our doors knew that Summer Camp existed. Our problem was that students were putting off signing up for various reasons! So, I was given a last minute project to fix this issue. I ended up coming up with this design:

It's a clever little flow chart that we ended up printing on about 1000 business cards. We handed them out and students got a huge kick out of them. My philosophy behind most of my designs is that if you can read it at a glance, then you've failed. If you have to read it, but it's not interesting, then you've failed. They have to want to read the text and that's hard to do with high schoolers. So, this worked perfectly because the design was interesting, they had to actually read it, and it was funny enough that they kept reading.

My favorite part of this whole design was when I saw this:

A church in Mill Creek, Washington saw my design (either on our facebook or morethandodgeball.com) and replicated it for their junior high summer camp. At first glance, I thought they jut added their logo and info at the top, but when I looked closer, it was clear that they made their own flow chart, using mine as a reference.

This kind of stuff makes me happy because it shows that our churches are able to use each other's resources and ideas for a common goal. I'm also extremely flattered that they liked my design enough to make their own :D

The Principal's Office

Our high school life group has been great and not so great. On one side, the guys are all getting along and becoming really good friends. On the other side, they've been having a really hard time with focusing on the group during any serious discussion. Many times I have spoken to the group about the importance of paying attention and not becoming distracted, but they're hyper freshmen with short attention spans :)

Last night I decided to try something new called, "The Principal's Office". I called each guy into an office room, one-by-one to talk one-on-one. I hit three points:

1. How I see you in the group: Are you the funny guy? The quiet guy? Do the other guys like you? Do I feel like you fit in with the group (easy because every one of them fits in perfectly)?

2. What I appreciate about you: Do you participate? Do you make the group laugh? Do you have leader potential? Are you good at paying attention? Each guy has something.

3. Where I think you need to improve: Do you need to focus more? Do you need to not sit next to certain people to alleviate distraction? Do you need to be more involved with the discussions? Some guys were actually doing great while others needed a little more push.

The talk lasted for about 2-5 minutes depending on the guy. I asked each one if there was anything they wanted more/less of in the group. Their feedback is extremely important because it's their group! When we're done, I ask them to start crying as they walk out to scare the other guys :)

All in all, the principal's office was pretty good. I had great one-on-one time with the guys where I could encourage them to be the best they could be in the group. The guys waiting outside the room had a lot of fun fellowshipping. My favorite part was calling them in randomly. They all acted like it was a horrible thing and tried to volunteer each other for the next spot :)

GAY!

As our Life Group continues to develop, I begin to notice some major issues arise in the students' thinking. While talking about our weeks, one student raised his hand and said that he had a serious question. He was concerned because a new club called The Gay-Straight Alliances had recently formed at his school. A good chunk of the other guys in the room began to call out, "Mine too!" and "It's so gay!". I could tell that these guys didn't have a clear understanding of the Christian view on homosexuality.

The student's question was simple, "What do we do about this club?" My initial response was simple, "What do you guys think you should do?" We went around the room one by one and got the same basic answer from each guy, "I wouldn't do anything". A few of the guys added, "To be completely honest, I would probably make fun of them and not do anything." I was troubled by this response, but expected it. I have to keep reminding myself that they're still young and get a lot of their views from TV and the kids around them.

As I wrote in my last post, our group is notorious for tangents. I used this conversation veering to my advantage. After about five minutes, we drifted into a conversation about people with diseases. I told the guys that I wanted to test them on their morality. I drew this picture on the white board:

I told them that the area labeled D was a pool where sick people would go in hopes getting better. They believed that the water would somehow get rid of their illness. I told the guys in the group that they work in the same area around all the sick people. For the sake of the example, no one had anything contagious or disgusting.

I then drew a building and said it was about 15 miles away. It's a hospital and in the hospital is a doctor who can help anyone. I then told them that the sick people have never heard of this doctor.

With that scenario in place, I then asked another very simple question, "Do you take any of these sick people to the hospital?" Every guy in the group was confused by how easy it was to answer, "Well... of course we would." It almost sounded like they were trying to figure out if it was a trick question.

I then relabeled the picture to this:

I explained that Jesus was the doctor and the church was the hospital. The group of sick people were the members of the GSA and the pool was their school. It was amazing how willing they were to help someone who needed help physically, but not someone who needed help spiritually.

I will explain to you as I explained to the group: homosexuality is not a sickness nor is it a disease. The analogy was speaking of an issue with spiritual health. Are the members of this club seeking something? Absolutely. They're seeking a community where they're accepted. They have formed a group where their emotional and social needs are met. They are safe. But do they have a relationship with Jesus? Probably not. Will they meet Jesus in this club? Most likely no. That is, unless Christians live like they are supposed to live.

Every guy in my group said that they would do nothing about this club. I'm sure some groups out there would say they want to protest it. I say NO! Join the club! Be bold! Get over your insecurities and all the junk the world has taught you. Don't ask, "What would Jesus do?" Ask, "What DID Jesus do?" He spent time with prostitutes, tax collectors, and sick people. He served those who the world deemed different. He showed love and compassion to the people who were mocked and scorned.

One guy in the group made a good point, "We can't just go in there and start talking about Jesus. They'll just get mad and kick us out."

He's absolutely right. Then I used on of my favorite quotes, "Preach the gospel always, if necessary use words." ~ St. Francis of Assisi.

So join this club. Hang out with the people. Serve them. Care about them. Laugh with them. Listen to them. Talk with them. Learn about their lives. Love them. Do all this with a sincere, Christ-centered heart and wait for them to ask you about Jesus. Then invite them to church and show them a community of broken people who live in Christ's love.

We are all sinners. We are all hurting. We all need Christ. Simple.

Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Mark 2:17

Tangent Fighters

One thing that plagues many small groups is the tendency to veer off from the original conversation onto what eventually becomes a topic of complete irrelevancy. In short, a tangent!

Sometimes tangents can be great! In fact, a student in your group might open up based on a conversation that stemmed from a tangent. I would go as far as to say that the Holy Spirit leads some great conversations via the human inability to stay on topic. You might want to talk about honoring parents, but God wants to steer the conversation onto a topic of purity.

Then, of course, you have negative tangents. These are the tangents that are steered by pride, selfishness, or flat out distraction. This is the most common type of tangent in small groups. Someone will be opening up about something and a key word sparks a conversation from another student. The moment is ruined for the opening student and the rest of the group dives into a maze of conversations that lead to nowhere.

So here are three ways to be a Tangent Fighter

1. Be wise and recognize! Understand when a tangent is destructive or productive. It's easy. Was someone in the middle of talking about something important? Is the tangent important? Does it feel like the Spirit is leading the group or is it just up in the air?

2. Make it known. On the first day your group meets, make the tangent issue known. Let your students understand that veering off on a conversation is inevitable, but not okay in most cases. Tell them that it's nothing personal, but if the group goes off topic, you're going to steer right back.

3. Get them involved! Our group name is "The Tangent Fighters". It is known in our group that we easily slip into tangents. They also know that anyone can call, "TANGENT!" when the conversation begins to slide. This is great because the students who are notorious for tangents are typically the first ones to get the conversation back on track. When the students are given such a responsibility, they really take to it!

Always remember to be wise! Sometimes the Holy Spirit wants to lead a conversation and it may look like a useless tangent. I once bought a car that looked like a... oh wait, TANGENT!!!!