Gospel - youthHOPE

My Call to Zambia, “The Womb of Africa”

May

2012

Guest blog post from Andrew Maina, Global Youth Worker in Zambia. The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you”. Genesis 12:1. (NIV). My journey, from my birth place in Kenya, to Zambia began one year ago. I quit my position as associate pastor into a season of 40 days of prayer and waiting on the Lord. Afterward, it became very plain to my wife of 7 years Grace and I, that the Lord wanted us to move to Zambia to serve as missionaries among the youth. The Lord connected us with YouthHOPE, a vibrant and dynamic ministry of like minded, passionate believers sold out to global youth ministry. We packed our bags, and my wife quit her job in Kenya. We called our family and friends together, bid them farewell, and with zero budget and an Abrahamic faith launched into the waters of central Africa. The Lord supernaturally provided the air …
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Filed Under: Global Youth Worker Stories, Gospel Tagged With: Christ, church, global youth, global youth ministry, youth ministry, Zambia

10 Marks of a Successful Youth Ministry

Apr

2012

I recently spent the weekend at Impact Student Ministries of First Baptist Church of Vandalia, OH. I had the honor of being their guest speaker for a DiscipleNOW weekend they call “Morphis.” Dale and Christa Puckett have led the youth there for 3 years and what I saw in my time with them was nothing short of fascinating. Psalm 115:1 “Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to Your Name be the glory, for Your mercy (love) and Your truth (faithfulness).” Success in youth ministry is not quantified by numbers, but rather by fruit. A youth ministry will not bear fruit unless it is Jesus centered. This is not an exhaustive list. However, here are 10 marks of a successful youth ministry, as evidenced by what I saw at FBCV: A team mindset – the small group leaders at Impact serve joyfully. They know they are part of the team. Dale & Christa do not micromanage them, they trust that they will minister well to …
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Filed Under: General, Gospel, YM Advice Tagged With: adolescence, church, conferences, gospel, grace, leadership development, making disciples, missional, parents, preaching, relationships, service, team, worship, youth group, youth ministry

Awareness by itself is inadequate

Mar

2012

What stereotypes do you have toward a prostitute or someone who is a victim of sex-trafficking? In the United States the average age of entry into prostitution is 13, globally it’s 12. They are youth. Nearly 100% of all people who will later be trapped in sexual slavery have a past ridden with abuse and neglect. Poverty, incest, abuse, and abandonment leave youth vulnerable to traffickers who lure them with opportunities at love, a job, and protection. In fact, if we rescued every victim today, we'd wake up to a demand for 100+ million new slaves tomorrow. The issue of sex-trafficking hits a little closer to home than we would like. Sex-trafficking thrives off of pornography and broken families, making women a commodity and leaving men and women with a broken view of God and his bride the church. Sin is just like any disease, we must have both treatment and preventative measures. We need to have an impact at every level, the …
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Filed Under: Global Needs, Gospel Tagged With: adolescence, culture, global needs, gospel, leadership development, relationships, sex trafficking, youth, youth ministry

Rap, tats and slang

Feb

2012

I came across an Associated Press article written a few months ago, entitled "US military legacy rubs off on Iraqi youth." The article highlights how 8,000,000 "Iraqis - a quarter of the population - have been born since the US led invasion of 2003 and nearly half the country is under the age of 19." In 2010, the population of Iraq was 32 million people. That means that there are 16 million under the age of 19. It would stand to reason that half of these are likely teenagers. Roughly 8 million youth in a country that is predominantly Muslim. 96.85% according to the most recent Operation World text. While the US military spent the past 8 years fighting for apparent freedom, the negative influence on youth was "hip-hop styles, tough-guy mannerisms, and slangy English patter." That means that they have heard of Eminem and 50 Cent, seen the Twilight movies, but have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This reminds me of …
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Filed Under: Global Needs, Gospel Tagged With: adolescence, Christ, church, education, global needs, gospel, iraq, relationships, youth

The secularization of America continues…

Jan

2012

I love meeting new people and spending time with the elderly. They are never short on stories of "the way things once were." My former pastor, Gary Buchman, used to tell me stories about reciting the 23rd Psalm in public school every morning. Prayer in schools in America was common for decades and wasn't just something that the religious right endorsed. It's been 12 years since I surrendered my life to Jesus as a teenager. I was 17 when God gave me "eyes to see and ears to hear." Over time I began to develop a Christian worldview and have seen the secularization of America increase ever since. From businesses requiring their employees to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," to the countless debates and attempts by the ACLU to remove the 10 commandments from courthouses, surely "because lawlessness abounds, the love of many [has] grown cold." (Matthew 24:12) Recently I came across this article on msnbc …
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Filed Under: General, Gospel Tagged With: Christ, current events, gospel, prayer, youth, youth ministry

Are You Unable to See?

Dec

2011

For some reason I have never really had a fear of flying—in a plane of course. I remember being more enamored and fascinated during my first flight than I was frightful that before I got off of that giant air capsule it would have plunged to the earth below. However, I do realize that I don’t share the same feelings as many when it comes to climbing aboard a flying piece of metal that I have no control over. As a matter of fact, I know quite a few people that are perfectly fine with only visiting foreign countries in North and South America as you can navigate 100% on the ground rather than air. Why is this? Why the need for such a deathly fear of flying? Quite simply, it’s due to a fragmented view of reality. Over time we have developed within our own cognizance an idea that being on the ground is far safer than being in the air. We take the stories of AA Flight 11, Flight 93, or Oceanic Flight 815, and we glorify the …
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Filed Under: Gospel

90% before 18, globally 2

Sep

2011

Youth ministers love to throw around the 90% stat. I've personally done informal surveys all of the world. When asked to teach I'll ask the room if they all are one of the 90%. The results are always the same. More than 90% affirm that they too are in the majority, and then everyone looks somewhat awkwardly at the one or two that didn't raise their hand interested in hearing their story of how they became a follower. The age changes. Some say 12, others 14. I usually play it safe and say 18, but while the age differs it has become common knowledge within YM circles that 90% of people that ever make a decision to follow the Christ do so before they exit adolescence. If that sounds unrealistic to you, I challenge you to join me in my informal research. Next time you are around more than 10 Christians ask them to raise their hand if they became a Christian before the age of 18. …
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Filed Under: Global Needs, Gospel Tagged With: global needs, global youth ministry, youth ministry

Is God inefficient?

Sep

2011

No answers or advice for youth workers in this post, just an invitation to do a little pondering and potentially enter into a conversation. Honestly, it is a conversation I would rather not have. I am obsessed with efficiency and productivity. Seriously, ask my wife. We "have discussions" about aesthetics often. In my world the photos, paint, and wall hangings she spends money on or time and energy creating add little value to our home because they have no practical value. We "have discussions" about her getting the radio right before we start driving because it would be way more efficient to do that at the first red light. I have a problem. Also, as the point person for YouthHOPE’s internships, I fear it could reflect poorly on the program we have been trying to build. (Because it could make them appear to be all about the participant and their experience, which is always a secondary issue in our planning.) Two quotes from …
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Filed Under: Gospel, Internships Tagged With: God, Interns, Internships, youth ministry

All the Single Ladies!

Sep

2011

Each day, in new ways, God continues to remind me that there is no safer place to be than walking in the His will. The fundamental root to trusting God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength is first acknowledging that GOD IS ALL GOOD and despite every conceivable problem you can think of, He still always holds your best interests at heart. He WILL equip you for every trial you face. If God chose only perfect people to do his good deeds then nothing would get done. Therefore, our God does not call those who are equipped by their own deeds, but rather He fully equips those He calls. So all of you single ladies... if you feel called to ministry overseas as a single woman read this and be encouraged! There are women thriving in ministry around the globe, and many of them are…. you guessed it….. single. In fact, I had the chance to spend June and July with an incredible woman following God’s calling to work with …
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Filed Under: Global Youth Worker Stories, Gospel Tagged With: Jesus, missiology, Southeast Asia

Idolatry sells

Sep

2011

Idolatry comes in many forms. The worship of nature is idolatry. There's hero worship. Then, there's the worship of created things. The New Testament includes coveting in idolatry also (Matt. 6:24). Recently, a South Carolina teen brought my attention to a new TV commercial put out by Scion - a car brand backed by Toyota. He posted on facebook, " After seeing the new Scion commercial, I know now never to buy one." Of course this sparked my attention. The ad in question features a caricature of the false god, Zeus. He opens with, "They call me Zeus because I'm the God of the gods. You know what else I'm the god of? Awesome." The Scion vehicle is a low-end automobile - marketed specifically toward youth. Scions are known for bright colors, loud stereos and tricked out features. Scion bills Zeus as the "creator of the High Voltage Scion tC." Some will view this commercial and shrug it off. Some will …
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Filed Under: Gospel, Newsworthy Tagged With: gospel, youth ministry

Advertising Aside

Aug

2011

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Jesus walked into a synagogue and there was a man there "who had a withered hand." Religious people watched Jesus to see how He would respond. It was the Sabbath and they saw Jesus' healing the man as work. Jesus said to the man, "step forward." After some dialogue with the religious people, Jesus looked at the man, and said, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. (This story comes from Mark 3:1-5) Fast forward 2,000 or so years, to the story of a British youth, Matthew James. Recently, Matthew wrote a letter to a professional Mercedes race car team. Now, the 14-year-old is now the proud wearer of "the most advanced prosthetic limb in the world" valued at around $57,000. Today, advertising is everywhere. Would Mercedes have helped the boy without putting their logo on the bionic hand? Only God knows. It is admirable what Mercedes did for the boy: partially …
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Filed Under: Gospel, Newsworthy Tagged With: Jesus, News

Ramadan

Aug

2011

An intentional 30 days of prayer for over 1 billion Muslims around the world has begun. How should the Christian respond? Last night, I took my 3 daughters to our local library and my eyes were captivated by an Islamic children’s book, proudly displayed, most likely with the onset of Ramadan. The author describes a young girl going to her grandmother’s house and hearing the nearby mosque announcing “It’s time to pray, come and pray,” 5x a day. The story tracks the girl’s time with her grandma, her interest in praying, and culminates with her receiving her own special prayer clothes, prayer rug and miniature mosque figure because there is not one nearby her house. The figure is a clock that goes off and reminds her to pray and the modern Muslim prayer rugs have a compass which points the Muslim toward Mecca. This might seem like a nice story but the truth is: This. Is. Bondage. The word “islam” means, …
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Filed Under: Featured, Gospel Tagged With: Christ, gospel, prayer, unreached

Rethinking Missions While Support Raising

Jul

2011

The other night, my wife Karena and I went to the home of a dear friend of ours, Ms. Elisabeth. She grew up in Germany and has been widowed for several years now. As we spent several hours sharing about our story and vision, and asking for support, we learned a valuable lesson. During the time that we resigned from being local-church youth ministers, and just before God led us to work with YouthHOPE, we applied at several mission organizations. One was: Samaritan’s Purse. They are an International Christian relief and evangelism organization which provides spiritual and physical aid to victims of war, poverty, natural disaster, and disease. Most people, who have heard of SP, are familiar with their successful shoebox ministry: “Operation Christmas Child.” Not only was Ms. Elizabeth familiar with it, she was actually 5 years old when she received a shoebox at Christmas time. Her brother got a box as well. For …
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Filed Under: Gospel Tagged With: gospel, missiology, support raising

The Gospel Manages Our Anger

Apr

2011

One of the most recognized names in Christian hip-hop is an artist named, Lecrae (www.reachrecords.com). If you listen to his music, you will hear theology-laced rhymes over top of some of the best beats around (DJ Official). In his song, “Anger Management,” the rapper proclaims: "The Gospel manages our anger, ya feel me? The solution is to gain a heart that's thankful for grace in Jesus Christ!” This song and lyric are so timely in my life. The phrase stood out to me immediately. I thought of Jesus, who while on the cross prayed for His accusers: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Stephen, a later disciple of Jesus prayed a similar prayer as He was persecuted through stoning. In Acts 7, we read his words to God, “Do not charge them with this sin!” Wow. I found myself asking introspectively: Do I let the Gospel manage my anger? What does that even look like? Recently, 3 …
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Filed Under: Featured, Gospel Tagged With: gospel

My Call to Zambia, “The Womb of Africa”

10 Marks of a Successful Youth Ministry

Awareness by itself is inadequate

Rap, tats and slang

The secularization of America continues…

Are You Unable to See?

90% before 18, globally 2

Is God inefficient?

All the Single Ladies!

Idolatry sells

Advertising Aside

Ramadan

Rethinking Missions While Support Raising

The Gospel Manages Our Anger

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Stop reading your Bible

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