A Jesus to get excited about!

• How excited would our teens be to come to Youth Group if this is how we taught Jesus?
• How many churches would be packed every Sunday morning if they understood that this is the God they worship?
• If we shared our faith with this same excitement and zeal how many people would put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ?
• What would the world look like if all believers were this passionate about Jesus?

Dare 2 Share Insider 02

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Post your thoughts and ideas below by using the “Comments” or email me at jasonlamb@dare2share.org

Top 10 reasons I love working at Dare 2 Share

This was inspired by a similar blog post by Greg Stier.

1. Everyday when I go to work at Dare 2 Share I know that what I do will have an impact on eternity.  I work for Jesus and not for man!
2. The people I work with are not just great co-workers and we’re not just on the “same team.”  We’re family!
3. Greg is bound to do or say something completely random that will make us laugh AT LEAST once a day.
4. What we are doing is making a difference.  More and more teenagers are trainined to share their faith and peer-to-peer evangelism on Middle School and High School campuses is happening.
5. When I travel for Dare 2 Share I meet Youth Leaders who are just as passionate about reaching teens as we are.
6. My boss Debb doesn’t just care about me but is personally invested in me.
7. I am challenged and convicted to keep personal evangelism a priority in my own life.
8. My team of Ministry Advocates cares for the Youth Leaders they work with & for the teens in those Youth Leaders’ ministries AND they get better at what they do everyday.
9. We have chapel every Wednesday for an hour.  How cool is it that we get to pray, worship, and learn together as a ministry?!?!?
10. Two things I have fun doing, Math and Ministry, collide to make my job exciting.  (When my wife Neva worked here she had nicknamed me “Rainman,” and even though she is at home with our two boys Christian & Brayden the nickname has stuck.)

D&W: persuade

By the name of this post some of you may already be a little leary as to what you are about to read.  Persuade is a pretty strong word.  Some people in Christian circles don’t even like using the word as it conjures up images of pushy car salesman or invasive telemarketers that call in the middle of dinner.  Unfortunately this word does come with negative baggage.  However, it doesn’t change what we find in scriptures (NLT):

• Acts 17:4 – Some of the Jews who listened were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with many God-fearing Greek men and quite a few prominent women.
• Acts 28:23 – So a time was set, and on that day a large number of people came to Paul’s lodging. He explained and testified about the Kingdom of God and tried to persuade them about Jesus from the Scriptures. Using the law of Moses and the books of the prophets, he spoke to them from morning until evening.
• 2 Corinthians 5:11 – Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too.

Persuade = sharing your faith!

The word persuade describes how we are supposed to reach out to those who don’t know Jesus Christ.  2 Corinthians 5:11 makes the strongest case for it in mind.  It decribes sharing our faith with those who don’t know Christ as our “fearful responsibility to God” and affirms that it is a sincere persuasion. 

So who have you persuaded lately with the power of the Gospel?  Have you challenged your teen to identify one lost friend that they need to relationally and relentlessly share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with?  Don’t be intimidated by the nature of the word “persuade.”  Be persuaded by the power of the Gospel!

The Deep and Wide Leader

by Phil Bell of Life Church in Canton, MI.

It stands to reason that it’s not a good idea to buy hair products from someone with no hair. It stands to reason that you should not go to a dentist who has teeth like Austin Powers. It should stand to reason that our students will not likely pursue God passionately if it is not modeled for them. It should also stand to reason that students will not intensely pursue their friends for Jesus if they do not see key people in their lives doing the same. Therefore, If you and I want to see students become passionate about God (Deep) and passionate about reaching their friends for Him (Wide), we need to ask some honest questions of ourselves:

• How are we modelling this for them?
• What passion for Jesus do the students see in us?
• What do our lives display to make the gospel worth intensely following? 

Before I go further, let’s pause for a minute… I want to be clear that you and I ultimately are not the answer to what students need. Jesus is! But we are certainly a guide and shepherd to help them discover and embrace Him.  Therefore, do students see someone before them who can be trusted to lead the way? They need someone who will navigate an exciting path with and for them. Do they see passion and authenticity evident in our lives and will they follow us as we follow Jesus? 

I believe that when we read 1 Thessalonians Chapter 1, we are given a great picture of the power of example to the students around us:

You know how we lived among you for your sake. ⁶You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. ⁷And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. ⁸The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere.     – 1 Thessalonians 1:5b-8

In this chapter I am challenged by the idea that faith is caught more than it is taught as students become imitators of us and of the Lord. And the key is not to be their hero or best friend. The key is to be an authentic Christ follower who students want to become like. As you and I imitate Him, our lives become magnetic to them and they begin to discover and embrace Jesus. What’s more important is this: When these students themselves are living out the deep and wide principles, they too begin to impact their friends, families and communities in ways we would never had imagined. Their faith in God will be known everywhere… Can you begin to dream of what that could look like in some of your students lives in the next few years? 

So, what kind of imitators are your students becoming? Today, take a look at some areas of your leadership and consider what small and important things you can do to model authentic faith to your students. But most of all, take some time today to allow God to fill you up with His presence. What is God saying to you today about who He wants you to become? How will that impact your students? How will impact God’s Kingdom?

Phil Bell
Pastor of Student Ministries
Life Church
www.youthworktalk.com