When it comes to planning your Fall calendar, what does it mean to Abandon Annually? Often our planning starts on the microlevel- What must I do today or this week? The tyranny of the urgent has us staring at the handful of trees in our vicinity. When we fail to see the entire forrest we miss so many things and often, we over schedule and double book ourselves.

When you begin your planning by looking over the course of an entire year you can schedule your non-negotibles and then plan accordingly. You also can intentionally lay out the next 365 days and dedicate them to God. There is a calming freedom in looking at a blank calendar and saying to Father, “Everyone of these days are dedicated to you.” My Personal Growth calendar will begin on August 1, 2010 and will end on July 31, 2011.

Searcy suggests that you plan your vacations first (abandon, get it?). He says that while this may seem self-serving, planning your vacation time gives you time to rest and a rested leader is a leader who is free to serve, lead, cast vision, spend time with family, and connect with Jesus more fully. He also suggests putting down your conferences or specific learning opportunities. Finally, Searcy suggests that you schedule a day or two one year from now to planning next year’s calendar.

What does this- Abandoning Annually- look like for me?

Vacations- Beyond traveling to see family during the holidays we have a big plan for our 2011 vacation. Next summer, we will celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary. It is our hope and plan to travel overseas for a week of vacation at the end of the summer. I know that we must begin planning today in order to make this plan a reality.

Conferences- Since 2003 I have traveled to Atlanta, GA for the Catalyst Conference. This is, hands down, my favorite leadership event and I can’t wait for October. For Catalyst, I have to schedule the better part of the week away. There are other leadership opportunities that may be online (The Nines) or local (Echo) and that do not require must preparation but I still need to put them on the calendar.

Youth Ministry- For the ministry, I would encourage you to find out and schedule in your calendar the following:

• School Holidays
• Sporting Events
• Next Year’s Summer Camp dates
• Super Bowl
• Inservice days for teachers
• The day school begins and ends

Review- July 25, 2011 has been designated as the day I will sit down and do this all over again.

Now you- take a look over the next year, Dedicate the next 365 days to growing closer to God each and everyday. Ask him to give you guidance, wisdom, and discernment over the next 12 months. Then set about marking in the most important an non-negotiable dates for this next year.

Remember: Control your calendar or it will control you. Next, we’ll look at how to Measure Monthly.

This year, I used some suggestions from Nelson Searcy concerning my personal planning calendar. While some of these suggestions have always been a part of my planning I really appreciated the concise and creative approach Nelson and his team uses when it comes to helping others plan their year. Maybe some of these things will help you as you look at what  God can do in your ministry over the next 12 months. This year, on a personal level, I am intentionally committing to spiritual growth. I want to be FAITHFUL and FRUITFUL.

Nelson suggests that to be intentional about personal spiritual growth you need to look at your calendar from four perspectives. You need to…

1. Abandon Annually
2. Measure Monthly
3. Withdraw Weekly
4. Divert Daily

Tomorrow we’ll look at taking the longview and committing the next 365 days to God through Abandoning Annually.

What are you reading? What should I be reading?

Survey: 72% of Millennials ‘more spiritual than religious’
By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY

Most young adults today don’t pray, don’t worship and don’t read the Bible, a major survey by a Christian research firm shows.

If the trends continue, “the Millennial generation will see churches closing as quickly as GM dealerships,” says Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources. In the group’s survey of 1,200 18- to 29-year-olds, 72% say they’re “really more spiritual than religious.”Among the 65% who call themselves Christian, “many are either mushy Christians or Christians in name only,” Rainer says. “Most are just indifferent. The more precisely you try to measure their Christianity, the fewer you find committed to the faith.”

Key findings in the phone survey, conducted in August and released today:

• 65% rarely or never pray with others, and 38% almost never pray by themselves either.
• 65% rarely or never attend worship services.
• 67% don’t read the Bible or sacred texts.

Many are unsure Jesus is the only path to heaven: Half say yes, half no.

“We have dumbed down what it means to be part of the church so much that it means almost nothing, even to people who already say they are part of the church,” Rainer says.

The findings, which document a steady drift away from church life, dovetail with a LifeWay survey of teenagers in 2007 who drop out of church and a study in February by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, which compared the beliefs of Millennials with those of earlier generations of young people.

The new survey has a margin of error of +/-2.8 percentage points.

Even among those in the survey who “believe they will go to heaven because they have accepted Jesus Christ as savior”:

• 68% did not mention faith, religion or spirituality when asked what was “really important in life.”
• 50% do not attend church at least weekly.
• 36% rarely or never read the Bible.

Neither are these young Christians evangelical in the original meaning of the term — eager to share the Gospel. Just 40% say this is their responsibility.

Even so, Rainer is encouraged by the roughly 15% who, he says, appear to be “deeply committed” Christians in study, prayer, worship and action.

Collin Hansen, 29, author of Young, Restless, Reformed, about a thriving minority of traditionalist Christians, agrees. “I’m not going to say these numbers aren’t true and aren’t grim, but they also drive people like me to build new, passionately Christian dynamic churches,” says Hansen, who is studying for the ministry. He sees many in his generation veering to “moralistic therapeutic deism — ‘God wants you to be happy and do good things.’ … I would not call that Christianity, however.”

The 2007 LifeWay study found seven in 10 Protestants ages 18 to 30, both evangelical and mainline, who went to church regularly in high school said they quit attending by age 23. And 34% of those had not returned, even sporadically, by age 30.

The Pew survey found young people today were significantly more likely than those in earlier generations to say they didn’t identify with any religious group. Neither are Millennials any more likely than earlier generations to turn toward a faith affiliation as they grow older.

I agree with Hansen. Yes, the numbers seem overwhelming. The task is daunting. The consequences of failure are real. However, all is not lost my friends. Remember, the gates of Hades will not overcome the Body of Christ.

Looks like we’ve got some work to do.

Youth ministry (any ministry for that matter) is inherently based on relationships. If you are not intentionally building relationships from day one you will be fighting an uphill battle. When you have put the time and effort into relationships you experience fulfillment beyond explanation. Today was a great reminder of this for me.

Build Relationships With… Jesus. How’s your relationship with the author and perfecter of your faith? Your power as a minister comes from Jesus Christ. Jesus should be at the center of your life and every good thing you accomplish is by him, through him, and for him. What are some ways you can intentionally build relationships with Jesus? Work on your relationship with Jesus.

Build Relationships With… Your Loved Ones. How’s your relationship with your spouse? Your children? Your friends? I will not, will not, will not sacrifice my family on the alter of ministry. You must be building and intentionally work on your relationship with your family. Sandy and I keep a hedge around at least one night a week. It is ours to do with as we see fit. No events, no visitors, nobody but us (and the boy). Sometimes we hit the town. Sometimes we veg out on the couch. Sometimes we run errands. The point is- we set aside specific time for connecting with one another. As our son gets older and as seasons change the world will fight to squeeze more out of us and will throw up obstacles to keep us from building our relationship. We will fight against the tide. You should too. What are some ways you can intentionally build relationships with your family? Work on your relationships at home.

Build Relationships With… The People You Serve. How’s your relationship with your students? Today, I spent a good chunk of my time talking with and messaging students. I was consumed with thoughts about them today I was able to reach out and connect with a good deal of them today. This made all the difference for me. I have seen students grow and open up and reveal their passions and desire for lives that glorify God and impact the world around them. I never would have the chance to experience this if we didn’t have a relationship. As a youth minister, you MUST build relationships with your students. What are some ways you can intentionally build relationships with your students?

In the middle (your day to day work activities), people say, “Uh, it’s just my job.” They are grumbling about the way they were treated, they’re not getting paid enough, they don’t like their customers, they don’t like their parishioners. “Uh, this is stupid. Blah, blah, blah.”

OR…

You say, “This is my platform. This is the one and only chance I get to do today. What am I going to do with this platform? This opportunity?”

So, today is YOUR day.  You have 24 hours to impact today and today alone. What are you going to do with today?

These are the TOP 5 OPPORTUNITIES YOU HAVE TODAY:

1. Worship: You have an opportunity to worship God and to live for Jesus Christ today. Take a moment (this moment) to stop and pray, think and honor, worship and praise the God who created the entire world and who knows you inside and out. Right now, I have been living inside the powerful and profound Revelation Song. The lyrics quote the song of the living beings in Revelation 4 & 5: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty- who was and is and is to come.” You have an opportunity to WORSHIP today through the work that you do and through person who are. How will you worship in the midst of your day to day?
2. Lead: I’ve been thinking a lot about the leadership legacy I want to leave. A legacy comes from developing other leaders to take your place. I once heard that the goal of leadership is to work yourself out of a job. Today you have an opportunity to LEAD. Who are you leading today?
3. Learn: We live in an incredible time where information is readily available and often free to access. Leaders are learners. Are you learning today? What lessons are being offered to yu today through books, podcasts, conversations? You have the opportunity to LEARN today. Are you taking advantage of the lessons around you?
4. Serve: Imagine how your day would go if you approached every email you wrote, class you prepared for, phone call you made, text you sent, and every conversation and activity by asking, “How will this serve this person?” of “How does this best serve these people?” You have an opportunity to SERVE today. Do you have the attitude of Jesus (Matthew 20:28; Philippians 2:5-11) when it comes to serving those in your care?
5. Connect: I have a list of 10 connections that I try to make each and everyday. I got the list from the book 99 Thoughts for Youth Workers by Josh Griffin. Making connections is what life and ministry is all about. Each day I try to take time to connect with God, my family, a student, a friend, and my philosophy. You have the OPPORTUNITY to connect today. How are you doing making connection with God and with others? What are some other important people or things you need to make connections with today?

You have all sorts of opportunities today. Make the most of these opportunities. Worship for today. Lead for today. Learn for today. Serve for today. Connect for today.

The techniques in the book helped me greatly as a campus security guard but when it came to people criticizing my ministry or my character the lessons I learned went out the window.

In my first job as Campus Minister, I seemed to receive criticism daily for the way I was handling chapel services. Some were angry because I used movie clips during my teaching. Some didn’t like that students sometimes clapped during the singing. One critic took offense that I called Joseph, Joe. To some I was irreverent and to some I was heretical. There was a group of critics, that regardless of what I did or didn’t do, where bound and determined to crush me.

I’d love to tell you I handled everything perfectly but I didn’t. One morning it all came to a head with one of my fiercest and most unrelenting critics but in this moment I learned a valuable lesson in dealing with critics.

I was assigned a morning duty with this particular critic. That meant that for 30 minutes everyday (at the start of each day) I would have to sit and listen to every conceivable complaint about my job performance and my ministry. One morning I had reached a boiling point. This man had been going on and on about how “watered down” my teaching was and about how I was merely “entertaining” students in chapel services.

I slammed my hands down on the table, bluntly told him I could no longer work with him, and then marched straight into the superintendent’s office to demand to be reassigned to some other morning duty. After pouring my heart out (read: whining and crying) the superintendent told me to go back out, apologize, and then invite the critic to speak in chapel.

To say I was livid would be the understatement of the year. I respected the superintendent so I said “Yes sir” with my lips but my heart was saying “NO WAY!!!” To be completely honest I was angry at this instruction. I didn’t want to follow through on this advice because I thought it was ridiculous. However, I did what I was told. I went back to my station, apologized for my words and behavior, and then (gulp) I asked him to speak in chapel the following week.

“Um, well, uh, well I, uh, will have to look, um, at my schedule,” he stammered. He got visually uncomfortable. He shifted. He hemmed and hawed. He backed down.

I had called his bluff.

I couldn’t believe it! His attitude and demeanor completely changed. He was quick to criticize and stonewall and say that “something must be done to save the children from heresy” but was COMPLETELY unwilling to speak in chapel. Over the course of the year I asked him 2 more times to speak in chapel. He refused both times. He also never criticized me again. Not once.

My Aha! Moment came when I realized:

1. I needed to have a coachable heart. I was angry at the superintendent. I didn’t want to do the hard work of apologizing and swallowing my pride.  Yet, when I obeyed the instructions from an older and wiser man- a man that knew loved me and only wanted the best for me- I learned something valuable. I learned that God is faithful to those who are faithful to Him. We are faithful when we do the right thing and approach any and every critic with humility.
2. I needed to weigh my critics. Someone once said that you should weigh your critics not count them. I learned that lesson that day in spades. Criticism is not a bad thing. In fact I learn more from my critics than I do my encouragers. A critics weight comes from their love and concern for you. If they don’t care about your development as a person than they are just a jerk. My critic was a jerk. Not once did he show me any genuine concern. He just wanted to dump on me. The superintendent did care about my development. He straight up told me my mistakes and then challenged me to make it right. Both criticized me. One loved me.
3. Doing the right thing… eventually becomes easy. I wish I had responded to that critic from day one with openness and an inviting nature. Instead, I took everything negative and internalized it. It took everything personally. After seeing how my critic reacted to my invitation I began using that technique with every critic I could. I took their raw emotions and used that momentum to propel conversations and issues to a place where we could rationally talk. Doing this once impossible task became second nature.

In 1 Tim 5:1-2, Paul instructs Timothy on dealing with older and young generations. Paul says, “Do not rebuke an older man harshly but exhort him as if he were your Father. Treat younger men as bothers…”

When we get fed up with criticism, especially harsh and unfair treatment from older people, our first reaction is to lash back at them. Paul says to talk with them as if they were your father. They may fail to treat you as a brother (fail to view you as equal) but their attitude isn’t your responsibility. You are responsible for YOUR attitude and reaction. I am responsible for MY attitude and reaction.

I no longer try to fight against criticism. I use it’s momentum to turn a negative into a positive. When I can do that, everyone wins.