Leadership Development Program: Come. See. Do. Learn.

March 29, 2017 by Chris Parker 1 Comment

The short version: An amazing, fully immersive, hands on, learning experience is waiting for YOU!

APPLICATIONS ARE DUE APRIL 28th. Apply here to begin in Fall 2017.

The detailed version:

When I was a freshmen in college (almost 10 years ago!) someone gave me the great opportunity to intern and learn from them, this happened again both during and post college. If it weren’t for those opportunities I wouldn’t know the things I know today nor have the privilege of leading where I am currently. I want to offer a similar opportunity for someone else out there that is curious about student ministry or ready to dive all in.

I can promise you this, you will gain more working knowledge from this program about student ministry than you will any class or book. How can I promise that? Myself along with many of my peers are products of this model. I went to college (a prestigious bible college at that) and I’m grateful for all things learned… but there are simply things you cannot learn in a classroom. Perhaps you graduated college and now you are eager to begin full-time ministry. My word of encouragement: DON’T! At least not until you have taken an opportunity such as this one to put things learned into practice. The program will save you tons of time, heartache and protect you from burnout in the long run.

This is not an internship. It’s so much more. The Leadership Development Program at Gateway Church in Austin, TX is an immersive ministry experience with mentoring and leadership training. You will do hands-on ministry and work along-side our NextGen team.

This one-year opportunity will ensure that the student ministry LDP gets both a broad overview of a NextGen team and a close look on how to operate a student ministry. This will involve hands-on learning by attending weekly planning meetings, helping run middle & high school programs, and learning student ministry philosophy from a well seasoned student pastor. If the LDP brings a certain gift/trade to the program we will do our best to utilize and empower them in that area (speaking, worship, administration, etc.) Our goal is that after this experience, you will be ready to find a full time staff position at a church or para-church ministry. There are a limited number of LDP positions available. The LDP opportunity is flexible in hours, a minimum of 25 hours a week is required.

APPLICATIONS ARE DUE APRIL 28th. Apply here to begin in Fall 2017.

Compensation

The role requires raising support, but allows the flexibility of also having a part-time job.
Free housing with a staff family may be available on a first-come first-serve basis.
One frisbee golf disc.
Unlimited supply of jelly-bellys, your choice of flavor 🙂

What will I learn?

Assist in leading student ministry at one of our campuses.
Participate in preparing and executing Winter Camp.
Participate as an adult leader on a summer GO! Team.
Assist in recruitment and training of volunteers.
Have a weekly presence on local school campuses.
Be an active mentor for at least one student.
Learn the unique complexities and opportunities of student ministry.

Desired Qualifications/Skills

Must be an active, committed Christ-follower.
At least one year of college or work experience outside high school.
Must have basic computer skills.
Has a passion to serve, interact and be around MS/HS students.
Must be teachable. This program is a learning experience! Do you have a desire to learn?

Desired Strengths/Spiritual Gifts

Leadership
Responsibility
Administration
Personable

About Gateway Church

Gateway Church in beautiful Austin, Texas, is a highly diverse culture, reaching people far from God. Our staff gets to be a part of an amazing movement making a difference in the city and around the globe, living out our values of Come As You Are, Live Connected, Be Transformed and Change Your World. If you’re a fan of ACL, SXSW, year-round sunshine, great Tex-Mex and not ever wearing a tie again, then you get us. We are a church where no perfect people are allowed and we’ve worked hard to create a non-threatening, culturally relevant environment that welcomes anyone and everyone who seek out the claims of Christ. For more information about who we are, head to www.gatewaychurch.com where you can experience our services live streamed, listen to podcasts, learn about our staff and much more.

Ideal candidates are:

College students or post-college emerging leaders
Growing Christ-followers
Have leadership experience
Open to raising support
Will be able to work 25-40 hours per week.

This opportunity is right around the corner, don’t wait too long, space is limited and our next round for LDPs won’t be until Fall of 2017! Apply now. Got questions? Just ask!

What if students baptized their friends?

November 8, 2016 by Chris Parker 1 Comment

Just a few weeks ago I had the amazing opportunity to witness fifteen high school students be baptized at our high school program. Some of them were baptized by me, some of them by their small group leaders and yes even some of them by their Christ-following friend that invited them!

Recently I did a personal study on the phrase “follow me” that Jesus used a handful of times and reiterated it in different ways with his disciples. This eventually lead me to doing a three week series with our high school students on this very thought which comes to complete fruition in [Read more…]

2 things when considering strategy.

April 28, 2016 by Chris Parker Leave a Comment

Yesterday I attended a Jon Acuff breakout here at the Orange Conference in Atlanta, he talked about strategy. It was short and sweet, and to the point…with the ~~occasional~~ jokes of course. Jon has a great way of weaving authentic truth into his entertaining messages. I walked away with two nuggets of truth I’d like to share with you.

Strategy forces you to acknowledge the limits.

Many times we believe that the sky is the limit. And guess what? As leaders we are guilty for aiming at the sky. When we don’t hit the sky we’ve been chasing after, we feel as if we have failed. It’s time we consider our strategy and understand it has limits. A strategy encompasses a unique DNA that “should” help us better focus on what we are saying NO to. The word NO can be interpreted as a bad word, an uncomfortable word or even discouraging about what you can’t do. However, when we learn to say NO to good things we will begin to understand what it looks like to acknowledge our limits. This will help us remain faithful to our strategy and execute the desired outcome.

Bigger isn’t better, better is better.

I’ve had the privilege of touring many churches over the past few years. Some with bigger buildings, bigger youth groups, others with bigger budgets and bigger staff. What have I learned? Bigger isn’t better, better is better. The high school ministry I lead is actually historically smaller than back in the hay-day when it was huge. Nonetheless, I’m told often by past leaders, previous students and current staff that our ministry is healthier than it ever was before. Our team has worked hard to put a Christ following adult if not two in the life of every teenager. When you do that, things get better. We also shifted the mentality of not just getting students plugged into a program, we wanted them to be part of something greater. 50% of our students volunteer in the church on Sunday mornings, this helps make our church a better place and gives the student a place to belong in the church beyond high school program. If you are considering simply program attendance you will miss it. Bigger isn’t better, better is better.

The power of the prop.

March 23, 2016 by Chris Parker 1 Comment

“That was a great message.”

“I get it now, that was super helpful.”

“I will never forget when you brought that up on stage”

I get these kinds of responses from students and leaders after a message when I use a prop.

The power of a prop can completely change the message for someone.

A prop is necessary. There are a variety of learning styles out there. The most popular styles include auditory, tactile and visual. When you speak to a group on a weekly basis and all you do is speak you are catering to a portion of the audience that connects well to the auditory learning style. What about those that are tactile and visual learners? Props are necessary for these types of learners. Recently I’ve told my middle school speakers that they need to use at least one prop in their message. I believe we are connecting more with students in this way.

A prop is memorable. I remember when I was 12 years old my pastor speaking on Matthew 7:3 – “”Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” I’ll never forget when he pulled a 2×4 out from behind the pulpit and started walking around on stage speaking with it at eye-level as if it were coming out of his eye. This prop has stuck with me for 17 years. When I think about judging people, I think about the 2×4 I’m carrying around myself before I say anything. You never know how far a prop may carry into someone’s future.

A prop creates anticipation. When a student walks into a room and sees a cardboard box on stage they react, “Hmm. I wonder what that’s for?” The speaker begins his/her message and the audience knows at some point they will reference the box. The prop keeps the audience engaged and suspended in wonder of when and how the prop might be used.

Jesus used props. Who better to learn from that Jesus himself?! He knew that his audience had things around them all the time that would illustrate and reinforce the main ideas He would teach. A cup of water, a loaf of bread, a stone, a mustard seed. He took things that people completely understood to help them understand a greater truth. When we use props to reinforce what Scripture says we are teaching the way Jesus taught.

How often do you use props to illustrate your messages?

What’s one of the most memorable props you’ve seen used to illustrate a message?

Should I become an intern?

February 4, 2016 by Chris Parker 1 Comment

I have friends that have been in school for 25 years non-stop, graduating from high school, attending college, then on to get their masters and even a doctorate! Attending ivey-league schools and graduating top in their class you think they would be ready to conquer the world. Unfortunately, the classroom and textbooks will only cater so much knowledge to the developing brain of someone ready to dive into their calling. Going to school for something is a great foundation to build upon and I believe its necessary but much of school is a repetitive cycle of learning how to learn. When graduating from most schools the diploma basically reads, “We recognize this person has the self discipline to obtain information and practice that information.”

Now, before you get upset about me dismissing your nephew that worked three part-time jobs to get himself through college, I applaud him, I know it’s hard work…I lived it and I believe he will be better because of it. I’m not minimizing the information learned in the classroom, like I said, it’s necessary. What happens after graduation though? Should we be given a job of our choice just because we graduated top in our class? I believe that method has come and gone. Long ago in the 90’s my generation was promised by parents and teachers alike, “Go to college and get your degree so you can have the job of your dreams.”

It happens every single year. I hear a story about a student that is $100k in debt for going to college to study their “dream job” and after graduation they are working at the local grocery store. What?! It never gets old and always surprises me, and I always ask the question…”So what are they going to do?” Many times people shrug and say, “I don’t know.”

Enter the internship model. Interning, shadowing, residency, apprentice work – this mindset has been around since the beginning of time. Sit under the expert you want to learn from and keep learning until they believe you are ready to be on your own. My college offered “internship” programs that were really self selected. You want to be a youth pastor? Pick a church and youth pastor you want to learn from, have them agree to the timeline and get them to sign off on your hours, but it is so much more than that.

An internship is not simply a stepping stone into your job of choice, it’s an opportunity for learning that you will not get in the classroom. Too many students I talk to look at an internship as the final hoop to jump through, the icing on the cake or even a guaranteed position at the company where they are interning. Remember, nothing is guaranteed and the internship is a learning opportunity. So learn, learn, learn! Take notes, ask questions, be available, execute tasks given to you.

I was an intern in my field both prior going to college and post college…oh and during college.

PRE-COLLEGE I was offered an internship my senior year of high school into my freshmen year of college, I took it to see if I really wanted to do what I was feeling called to do. A pre-college internship is a wonderful opportunity to confirm your desires to be a __________. I would highly encourage this option if you can find it before spending loads of your parents money or the money you don’t have on a college education in a field you may eventually despise. I went to the local community college and took care of my basics during my internship.

DURING COLLEGE These are not simply the education years but the networking years. Get to know people that do what you want to do. Begin chasing down leads, take them out to coffee and pick their brain on the vocation they are living out daily. You will begin to see another side to this role you are studying in the classroom. Do they have an opening for custodial work during the week or need someone to greet clients at the front desk? Seize the opportunity. It’s amazing what you can learn about a profession by simply living in that world a few hours out of the week. You never know who you might meet, it could be your future boss.

POST-COLLEGE Perhaps one of the most critical times to intern yet short lived by many. Young professionals want the paycheck and the title. Both will come with time but perhaps the best next step is to find the person you want to learn from. Perhaps you are following in someone’s footsteps, just ask them, “What do you think about me shadowing you for a year?” If they say no, ask them who they might suggest. When you intern for someone or a company you will quickly see that you are taking on a specific DNA of how something is accomplished. Remember, it’s not the only way to do things. Just as much as an internship is learning how to do things it’s also a place to make promises to yourself such as, “I will never do it that way.”

In closing, I hope you find the job of your dreams. I believe if you chase after what you believe you were created to do it will eventually happen with time but time best spent could be learning from someone that is currently living it.

I’m really excited about the opportunity we have for those that are interested in entering into vocational ministry. If you want to be a youth pastor, worship leader, program director, church planter we have a pretty neat program for you. Its a front row seat to the daily life of those on staff at a church, the good bad and ugly.

This is not an internship. It’s so much more. The Leadership Development Program is an immersive ministry experience with mentoring and leadership training. You will do hands-on ministry and work along-side our staff teams and our goal is that after this experience, you will be ready to find a full time staff position at a church or para-church ministry. Come get prepared! To learn more, download the description of the Leadership-Development-Program and then click here to apply!

I am thrilled to be one of those on our staff team that speaks into the future leaders of the church and love sharing my success and failures with those that want to learn. If you are interested in a learning opportunity in Austin, TX this is a great one! I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding the leadership development program. Don’t hesitate to reach out!

Make a list and check it twice. Event planning in ministry.

December 23, 2015 by Chris Parker Leave a Comment

We have 325 kids/students and 100 adult leaders registered for 2016 Winter Camp. Each year we are growing in attendance by 20%…it’s really fun to watch this thing take off!

Four months ago we launched registration for our winter camp. On August 23, we offered up a family BBQ and open house where parents could hear the vision from our NextGen team and meet their child’s small group leader. As a bonus, incentive, bribe…we promised a promo code to all that attended. This promo code would be good for $25 off of the camp price.

It worked. Really well.

Parents and students showed up in droves, we had almost 1,000 people show up. We had a short program that was jam packed with high energy music and a compelling vision moment from our NextGen pastor, Kenny Conley.

Our team made a decision this year to be finished with “camp stuff” before Christmas. Well, with a few changes on our staff team and one being out with a baby for a few months we slowed down a little bit but we almost did it. In reviewing our project plan we are 85-90% there. We will come back from our week off of work ready to knock it out, but most of the heavy lifting is finished!

When you decide to aim for a due date on any project take this into consideration:

Pick a reasonable due date. If it’s something as big as a camp start planning 5-6 months out.
Work as a team. Assign tasks and sub-tasks to each person on your staff or volunteer team.
Each task or sub-task has it’s own due date to keep things moving along.
Check-in weekly. Pick a time each week to review the checklist, where are you stuck?
Keep this updated in google docs where others can see progress or lack thereof.
Assign one person to be the project manager. This naturally can be the boss/supervisor but someone else on your team may be a better fit because of how they are wired.

My next post will be a step by step checklist with tasks and subtasks that should be helpful for any camp/retreat.

Crunching Numbers. How do you (or your boss) rate attendance?

November 11, 2015 by Chris Parker 2 Comments

It happens at every church. The moment your senior pastor or supervisor asks you one of these questions:

“How many students do we have coming to program?”
“How many students attend on a weekly basis?”
“How many students regularly attend?”
“How many students are fully engaged?”
“What are our numbers for high school?”
“What are our current numbers for middle school?”

While many of these questions have a similar feel to them, they indeed are DIFFERENT questions. If your boss or senior pastor ask one of the above questions you might feel stuck or unfairly represented by answering that one question. Help them clarify their question by answering more questions that should be asked.

My high school ministry is most misrepresented by simply observing a weekly attendance report. If I were to answer the question, “How many high school students attended this week?” I would be forced to answer, [Read more…]

Checking for leaks in your ministry.

October 21, 2015 by Chris Parker Leave a Comment

I’m in the trenches of dumping money into my truck for maintenance issues. At this point I’m ready to wipe my hands clean and start again with another vehicle, which will come with it’s own problems I’m sure…sadly that’s how cars are unless you can buy a new one every year. So, how did I know my truck needed maintenance?

The leak.

I spotted it one evening after an oil change. Thinking it was residual oil I kept an eye on the leak…it got bigger overnight. A day or two after watching it and looking for the source I found it was something bigger, which lead to another repair needing to be made. I think you might see where I’m going with this so I’ll jump out of the analogy and speak straightforward as a pastor and leader overseeing many.

I’m in the people business. Just as a mechanic knows cars because they have been around their fair share of vehicles, I know people. In student ministry I deal with teenagers, college aged leaders, adult leaders and parents…pretty much the entire gamut. When you work daily with various age groups you are constantly troubleshooting problems, re-arranging leaders, consoling a depressed student, or listening to an irate parent. What do all of these people have in common? Maintenance and maintenance indicators. Just as a warning light would display low fuel, or low tire pressure, people do the same thing.

Observing a leak or warning light is one thing, identifying the source of the problem and fixing it is entirely different. That takes work and experience. We need to roll up our sleeves and get under the hood constantly to identify the leaks in our ministry. If a leader [Read more…]

5 ways to make your youth group more accessible

September 29, 2015 by Chris Parker 3 Comments

Develop a social media plan. Communicate and communicate often across all platforms. Hootsuite, Onlypult, Buffer. These are some tools you can use to develop a social media plan. Schedule posts ahead of time so if you have a busy season of ministry stuff is still getting out there.
A visitor follow up process. I suck at this quite frankly…ok, maybe that’s too harsh but I have dreams of WOWING students with how much we care that they showed up and show them how much we want them to come back. Currently we send a postcard…but I want a gift basket with their name on it and balloons attached to appear on their front porch (too much?)
Get mom and dad on board. Introducing yourself to the parents is worth its weight in gold. When parents know who you are and who their kids are being influenced by, it is much more likely they will bring their kid back to youth group. If not you, rally your leaders to introduce themselves to mom or dad during drop off or pick up. Send a follow up email directly to the parents welcoming them to your church.
Be willing to change your program time. I didn’t say change your program time…be willing. Wednesday night youth group is fading out. Only churches that have been doing this a long time may have a culture of it…is it most likely poised for reaching new kids? I’d argue the answer is no. Conducting surveys of families and most available times can help you offer the least competitive time for students to attend youth group in your area. My high school students gather on Sunday evenings from 4pm-6pm. There are no school conflicts and it allows them to be home earlier on a school night (which most parents are fond of). I share more about this idea in another post.
Create a space for students to call their own. Students care about ownership, they like the club idea, a place to belong… a safe haven with cool vibes. Not everyone understands this nor do I expect it of them. My youth group operates in a shared space…a couple of shared spaces. I make it my aim to make this space appealing to students. There are probably a hundred ways to do this…even in a shared space. Creativity is king and sky is the limit. Start with that mentality and see where you end up, probably in a better place than you are now. I can give you a virtual tour and talk through our shared space and some practices we use every week, anyone interested? Stay tuned.

How have you made your youth group more accessible? What does your visitor follow up process look like? Let’s hear it!

Disciple: Be One. Make One.

September 28, 2015 by Chris Parker Leave a Comment

We are all familiar with the great commission. Especially during mission trips, we let the words of Jesus be a beckoning for students and adults to participate…”GO! And make disciples of all nations…” yet we also understand this should not be merely a seasonal advertisement at the local department store. Let the words sink in…GO….MAKE DISCIPLES….OF ALL NATIONS.

There is nothing in the phrases of Jesus that reduce the vision to a short-term trip, it’s communicated as a directive in lifestyle and mission. The aim. Jesus asked his disciples and followers to make this their aim and let everything else fall into place…the cost of following Christ is great. In the days of the early church roots it meant leaving your home, not continuing in the family business, traveling great distances to spread the word. The aim was clear.

This mantra of “Disciple: Be One. Make One.” was introduced to me by my youth pastor (Bobby Pruitt/love that guy), it was the slogan of our youth group in which we clarified all activities, retreats and new opportunities through. We were challenged constantly about our “aim” and if it truly was our aim to be a disciple of Christ and if we were living on mission to make other disciples.

Confession. The more I have become involved with vocational ministry the harder it seems to make this my aim. I find myself doing “good” things for the kingdom: recruiting and training leaders, preaching to MS and HS students, creating momentum for parents to feel the support of the church, bettering our environments for kids and students, and dreaming big dreams for the next generation….

but this is not discipleship.

All of these things can be a means to discipleship, but will not suffice as discipleship in the way Jesus intended. He defined discipleship by setting the example. He shared meals with them, spent hours of time discussing life, traveling together, camping trips, excursions, answering weird questions that people had…

Here’s my personal conviction. Over the years in vocational ministry I have had seasons of intentional discipleship. Sometimes I am being intentional to disciple a leader and a student, other times just a student but still other times nobody…zilch, nada, none – but man oh man, that camp we did was awesome!

I think this is something everyone who works for a church or ministry should be aware of, you can be incredibly busy, booked and burned out…for really, really good things. Even though that’s the case, I still think we may miss the mark because of what we’ve been told to aim at by Jesus himself, “GO MAKE DISCIPLES.”

Today I meet with Zach. He’s a middle school small group leader in my ministry. We have been discussing the holy spirit and prayer and will continue down that road for a few weeks. Let me set the record straight by saying Zach reached out to me, not the other way around. It was a conviction moment when he asked, “Would you disciple me?” I quickly answered yes because I knew I needed too…but deep down I quickly went to the craziness of my to-do list to see where this might “fit-in”. Sad.

Make it your aim to disciple someone…always. Never be too busy that a discipleship relationship would take precedent over other important things your church deems as important. If you want your church, your ministry, your flock to be disciples that are making disciples then you need to set the pace for them.

So, I leave you with these questions to wrestle with and pray over today.

“To whom is Jesus asking you to GO?”
“Do you let weekly “church stuff” take precedence over a discipleship relationship?”
Who will you ask to hold you accountable to discipling others?

Life of a youth pastor .

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