JCISONLINE

I fumble a line, but other than that, pretty funny video… Second promotion for our Preteen Ministry Camp. Our take on the Nationwide spokesperson.

Huge Props to Chris Brank, our student worship and production guru, who concept-ed, filmed, and edited.

I’ve always wanted to be a part of a movement of God in a city, church, or community. I tasted what it was like when I was in high school. I’ve been searching for one ever since. In Preteen Ministry, I was wondering what a movement of God would look like, but first I would like to tell you why I’m writing this post.

In student ministry over the last few months we’ve been discussing what to do next. Not programmatically, not the next song we will sing, or even the next thing we desire to teach our students. We want to move our student body from consumerism driven style that they have seen their parents a part of in the church and into a active faith led by Christ moving their hearts to full abandon to him. As Jared, our Student Pastor, has been talking of changes and ideas, one of our pastors, Fenton Moorhead (incredible, incredible man of God and part of THE Jesus Movement) posed the question: “How can you start a fire, where there is nothing to kindle?” How do you start a fire from scratch?

I’ve been thinking in Preteen Ministry, how can we see their hearts ablaze for Christ? Where do we start? What is the Catalyst for this movement of God? The obvious answer is God alone and prayer. We know that without God lighting things up, movements, fires don’t happen. But what is our responsibility as leaders.

Then pondering through this idea, we are walking through Desiring God (affiliate link). I saw a verse that I haven’t seen in a long time, even though it was such a catalyst for me in High School.

So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. -James 2:17

I love the NLT version of this verse. Our faith has to be intertwined with fruit. Without the fruit produced by God awakening our hearts, we cannot trust our faith. It is dead and useless. It is without life, vigor, spirit, joy, fullness, and usefulness.

God must ignite a fire within our preteens first and foremost. If that doesn’t happen, we can still create a movement, just not one of God. But after God begins to regenerate hearts and move spirits of preteens, we must give them opportunities to work out their faith. But what are we asking students to do? What are their action items? What should they be thinking about when they go to bed at night? What is their challenge and call?

What does this look like? I have no answer, but ideas are brewing.

But I ask you, how do you start a movement of God where there is nothing stirring? Is a movement of God even possible for preteens?

So in your Preteen Ministry, you’ve probably asked the question, “How do we release our students on a weekly basis?” When we were beginning to create our process for “Check-Out” we wanted to combine some elements of Children’s and Students.

One thing that was incredibly important to me was the element of choice. I wanted to initiate a conversation between parent and student (how Orange of me ). We created a check out card (which you can download by clicking) for parents to fill out, ultimately deciding whether they would pick up their student from our Switch area or to allow them to corroborate a meeting place as a family.

Not only that, but by putting this as a query in Arena, our check-in system, we have the tags printed out with an emblem letting us know that this particular child is an ok to go, or a keeper.

This might seem like a small thing. But, this has been such a success for our families. We have only had one family that needed more clear explanation of our process. I know this might seem like a small consideration to make. But it allows the family to let go of the bike

What does your preteen ministry check in/check out process look like?

Just to wet your tongue

Today I have a guest post from Nick Diliberto. Nick Diliberto is the creator of PreteenMinistry.net; preteen columnist for Children’s Ministry Magazine; co-founder of FourFiveSix.org; host of a preteen ministry radio show on CM Connect Radio; author; speaker and children’s director in San Diego, CA.

He is married to Jena, the most beautiful woman in the world (according to Nick ), and dad to Ethan (9yrs old), Joey (7yrs old) and Emma (5yrs old). The Diliberto’s are all beach bums, adventure seekers and out of the box thinkers in our own individual ways.

According to TweenParent.com, every preteen at some point will be both bullied and bully (or tease) others. Bullying is a hot topic these days, both in the media and in school yards across the country. My kids public school in California recently had an entire week focused on bullying. Sean Sweet, preteen pastor in Rocklin, CA recently asked the preteens attending Elevate (4th/5th graders) how many have been bullied or witnessed bullying. Just about every single preteen raised their hand! The reality is that the preteens in your group are regularly exposed to it. Although bullying has been around since you and I were kids, it has recently been recognized to take on many forms. Some are the more common but others are worth considering. Here are some of them:

1. The Bully: This is the classic bully or group of bullies that harass their peers. The bully (or group of) continuously make fun of, hits or teases. This type of bullying is extremely harmful and can have significant impact on its victims.

2. Sibling Bullying: Siblings often bully each other. It could be severe, but the more common form is less severe. One example would be a constant bad attitude toward a sibling that tears them down rather than builds up. We usually don’t consider this bullying and justify it (myself included) to the relational dynamics of siblings. But no matter its severity or form, it simply is not healthy. Another interesting thing to consider is a study published by the British Journal of Developmental Psychology. Dr. Ersilia Menesini and her colleagues at the Universita’ degi Studi di Firenze found that there was a direct correlation between sibling bullying and victimization and bullying and victimization at school. In short, the roles kids play out at home are likely to be reenacted with peers. Something for parents (myself included) to consider.

3. Teasing. Another form of bullying is teasing or put downs. This might not be a steady dose directed towards one person, as in the classic bully scenario. But it is a form of bullying. The problem is that most preteens don’t recognize put-downs as a form of bullying. It’s simply an accepted form of interaction among peers. However, when a peer environment is full of teasing, a preteen’s self-esteem is often negatively impacted. At best, he/she experiences emotional pain and hurt as a result.

4. Cyber Bullying. In today’s digital age bullying has taken on a more scary form. Cyber bullying happens online. Many preteens have access to social websites, such as myspace, facebook, etc. The outcome is devastating. You may have seen in the media young teenagers ending their lives due to cyber bullying. While that might not be the norm, victims carry a lot of daily hurt and pain that often affects every other part of their lives. With cyber bullying, bullies harass victims by posting comments online. It’s easier to do for the bully (no face-to-face confrontation) and sometimes more harmful to victims (quickly spreads, more public & often less noticeable by adults). With the introduction of mobile devices, bullies can also taunt victims through texting. Even the younger preteens in your group have mobile phones these days. Cyber bullying is big and odds are your preteens have some degree of exposure to it.

There may be more forms of bullying than listed above. It certainly isn’t a comprehensive list. As awareness increases, it gives us an opportunity to take action. As a children’s or preteen leader, what can you do about bullying?

The first step is to do something. Realize it is a big enough topic worth addressing in some way. Every church and community is different, so everyone’s approach will be different. However, Jesus and the Bible give us a lot of advice on the topic. But that is for another blog…

Stay tuned next week, where we’ll take a further look at what you and I can do to address bullying. And it might not be what you think. We can’t just tell preteens to stop bullying. There is more to it than simply telling victims to go to an adult when bullying or witnessing bullying. It goes deeper and is more complex.

PreteenMinistry.net has done something to address the issue. We’ve recently released a four week series on the topic – Bullying: Taking Down Goliath. Whether or not you choose to use it is up to you. But I do encourage you to consider doing something, whatever you see fit given your unique church/community situation.

When it comes to Preteen Ministry, one subject that always comes to mind is bullying. Bullying has been a pretty big trend lately in mainstream media. President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama talked about bullying last week. The issue is gaining national attention and it’s also beginning to be backed with resources.

Continue Reading…

In preparation for the Orange Conference, which you absolutely must attend. My blog turned this odd shade of Orange. We will be having a few Orange conversations around here in the coming weeks.

First Orange question:

Is your Preteen Ministry a part of Children’s Ministry or Student Ministry or standalone? Why?

We gave our students a few tips on really listening to the lyrics of songs that they have on their ipod. Pretty helpful advice if I do say so myself.