Get off the stage, you talk too much!

September 7, 2015 by Chris Parker Leave a Comment

If the statement upsets you it could be a deeper conviction or perhaps I’m right. However, I’m not here to guilt trip you, but rather offer up one of the best kept secrets I have run into this past year. The method has benefited my student ministry tremendously.

You and I both know that even the most gifted and rehearsed speaker won’t connect with every student. I receive compliments and encouragement from some students while getting blank stares from others. Your audience needs different voices offering up the same truth in different tones. Just as there are a kazillion love songs on the radio, some prefer country music while others like the fat beat of a heavy rap song with a similar story…in both songs someone is stealing the girl or running off with their high school sweetheart (I understand country music lyrics a little bit more clearly than rap…but maybe that’s just me?).

I found that asking guest speakers to take on a speaking series is beneficial to everyone involved in the equation. A couple of quick thoughts:

Give your audience another voice to connect with.
Rather than spend time on message prep that week, solve other problems in your ministry.
Allow a speaker/teacher to grow in their gifting.
Taking off a Sunday in the future will be much more possible when you share the stage with others.
Pastoral staff and those with the gift of teaching are selected guest speakers. BE SELECTIVE.
One day when you leave your position students will be more receptive to hearing from other voices…even the next youth pastor.

How often should you share the stage? The old-school youth pastor and even some modern day yp’s will speak every single Sunday. If you want to burn out and hate your job…then continue this method. Even if you LOVE speaking…your ministry needs your attention in other places other than the stage. I have done some math and it appears over the past year that I speak 40-50% of the time. That means that I am one of if not the most consistent faces on stage but not appearing every Sunday.

Getting off the stage has allowed me to recruit, train and cast vision for my leaders like never before. This year we have a full volunteer staff of almost 60 showing up every Sunday to lead small groups, greet students and serve up a meal for our high school program. This would not have been possible if it weren’t for the team of speakers I have around me that pour in their time to teach our students while I work on other “behind the scenes stuff” during the week.

In case the question came to mind. We use Orange’s Xp3 curriculum as our foundation for a teaching manuscript and small group questions. I allow the guest speaker to add their own stories and even some main points, but they have to stick to the bottom line and use the scripture given.

So, I leave you with this question: Who are you sharing the stage with?

XP3 – Free 3 week series!

March 17, 2014 by Chris Parker Leave a Comment

One of the first questions I get when hanging out with another student pastor is, “What curriculum do you use?” I have gone a few different routes in the past, but have been using XP3 for about a year now. Here’s what I love most…they give you EVERYTHING you would ever need for a series and then some more. For every series you get small group questions, large group manuscript, access to bumper videos, logos, leader email templates, etc. The content seems to always be relevant, I take the manuscript and make it my own. XP3 gives both the young and well seasoned youth pastor a great platform to engage students with God’s word.

Take a quick look at this for your group, and try a free 3 week series!

Be a master storyteller.

March 10, 2014 by Chris Parker 1 Comment

When looking for a guest speaker or even brewing up a message of my own to deliver, I always ask myself… is this a good story? I’m not talking about the scripture or the personal application part. I’m merely talking about capturing your audience with a story.

As I observe students and their attentiveness to the person speaking they are either dialed in listening or dialing someone on their phone, or texting or just zoned out. As one of my professors said in college, “It is a sin to bore someone with the Word of God.”

So, why is it the speakers fault if the audience isn’t engaging? You haven’t captured their attention. You aren’t talking “studentnese”, you aren’t sharing a story that is relevant to their current world, you simply aren’t making them smile or laugh.

Jesus was the master storyteller. Many times before referring to any scripture at all, Jesus would share a story with his audience. His stories varied from family affairs, to robberies, painting pictures of grand parties, etc. He knew what his audience was used to seeing and hearing. He leveraged that to capture an audience so that they may hear truth.

Here’s my biggest piece of advice though, never make your story more important than the biblical truth. Never minimize what you are really trying to get across because your story is so cool. You should be just as excited if not more excited to share what is in the Bible and what it means to the listener than your hook.

The best book I’ve read on this subject and I would highly recommend is “Communicating for a Change” by Andy Stanley.