greg teselle

You’d be hard-pressed to find a student minister who doesn’t use some kind of lecture strategy as a fail-safe way to communicate the gospel to students. The youth sermon has been around since the beginning of Student Ministry. (in other words – forever) Now don’t get me wrong, I have been a Student Pastor for 17 years, and for pretty much all 17 years I did a form of a Group Talk on a consistent basis. So I’m guilty, am I’m writing this to myself as well.

Why am I sick of youth group talks? Here’s why. There’s a mountain of research that discounts lecturing as an effective way to help people learn, especially young people. But that’s not all. Even if you’re a big believer in youth talks, you likely can’t point to a sermon or message that actually changed your life. Life change is almost always the result of an experience followed by some kind of debriefing. I could use my fingernail to drive a screw into a piece of wood, but I’d rather use something that’s more effective, like a screwdriver

When I talk to and ask Student ministers around the country to tell me the most effective way they teach their students spiritual truths, youth talks and sermons are their last choice. Though youth talks are popular, they’re not all that effective. So why do Student Ministers use youth talks so much?

Here are a couple theories. What do you think?

1. Sermons require less time, work, creativity, and risk. Time is a driving factor. In order to come up with something different, it takes lots of effort and creativity. It’s hard to find or make the time to do something different. If you try something new, many times that involves having group leaders or others involved and it simply takes more preparation. There’s also the risk factor. It’s a risk to try something new.

2. Youth talks are traditional in ministry – that’s how most student ministers were trained to teach, and they’ve always done it that way. Most people like to stick with what is familiar, regardless if it works or not! If student ministers have been to seminary or Bible college, they’ve had a preaching class that taught them that that’s how you teach.

3. There are few resources that help youth leaders teach in active and interactive ways. I’m not sure about this one because I always created my own stuff, but I think it’s probably true. Good resources for student ministries has always sucked.

4. It’s all an issue of control. Pastors have issues of control. If they present a half-hour talk on some topical, and they direct the questions, it’s more under control than otherwise. So I’m sick of youth talks.

Let’s try to figure out ways to better teach students.

What do you think?

The double greeting is a pretty common illness that infects ministers and speakers at the very beginning of the message. Here’s what it looks like:

Minister:
“Good morning!”

Crowd:
“Good morning.”

Minister:
(Sensing that the crowd’s volume or enthusiasm did not meet his expectation, he decides to shame everyone into a more adequate response.)
“I said ‘Good Morning!’”

Crowd:
(A little embarrassed or annoyed that their good morning failed to meet some unspoken expectation, the crowd raises their voice and repeats.)
“Good Morning!”

Minister:
(Assessing the new “good morning” and finding it satisfactory, he releases the crowd from this circular greeting torture and grades the response.)
“That’s more like it.”

Although I haven’t done a double greeting in at least 4 years, I still have a few questions about this annoying issue.

1. When a minister does this, is the goal based on volume level or percent of crowd participation? For instance, if the guy that always screams “JESUS!!” at concerts is attending that Sunday and yells “GOOD MORNING,” can we avoid the double greeting? Or do we need at least 51% of the crowd on board?

2. Have you ever had a minister blame the double greeting on Jesus? That’s fun. After you give a loud enough “Good Morning” he’ll say something like “That’s better, that’s the kind of good morning Jesus deserves.” Does Jesus agree with that? Is he pro double greeting or anti double greeting? Does he high five Enoch when it happens or feel thrown under the bus and want to say, “whoa, whoa, whoa, I never asked for the double greeting.”

3. Is there a world record for the most consecutive rounds of greeting? Theoretically, if the minister has really high standards or the crowd doesn’t ever fully participate, it could go on for eternity. Just good morning, after good morning, after good morning.

Even though I haven’t done a double greeting in quite some time, the temptation remains. If you ever hear me do a double greeting please immediately come up on stage punch me in the knee. It will be hard for me to speak after that, but it’s the only way I’ll learn.

I am not perfect. I struggle with things just like everyone else. I want to change, but I find myself giving excuses for the things that I want to do. Maybe these sound familiar?

1) Everyone else is doing it.
I know we used this excuse as kids, but I think if we are honest with ourselves, we still use it. It’s just different desires as we get older. And don’t take a poll to see what everyone else is doing either. The moral majority is often neither.

2) This is how God made me.
God made us all, but doesn’t want us to stay that way. Our entire lives are about changing. We are supposed to be growing up physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually our entire lives. Once I say “that’s just how God made me”, I have stopped growing and don’t want to change anymore.

3) I’m not at that place in my life yet.
It’s the same thing as saying, “I know better, but …”. Try this excuse with your spouse or better yet your boss. See how that goes over. It doesn’t.

4). My situation is different.
I sometimes think I’m somehow above the laws of the land or God. I’m special – not. When I use this excuse I’m telling the authorities in my life they didn’t account for my situation, and I need to sit them down and set them straight. Try that one too. Especially with God.

5) I’ve got total peace about it.
Listen. Prisons and emergency rooms are full of people that thought they had peace about an action they did.

Oh yeah, and don’t trust your conscience either. It’s not a moral compass. We all have things we thought were right at first but learned later on that we were wrong.. And vice versa.

I guess I’m just tired of making excuses. If you hear me say any of these things, slap me.

It could be said that a person’s relational IQ measures the capacity for he or she to connect others with skill, warmth, authenticity and genuine compassion. It’s clear we are made to be relational. But how do we know we are “relationally intelligent?” One piece of evidence is that we decide to invest large chunks of time to relational development. Secondly, we overcome the fear of rejection. Thirdly, we decide to take relational initiatives with others. If we consciously make these decisions, we may have a high relational IQ. Here are few basic concepts to increase your relational IQ.

1) If you have a concern, question, or issue with someone, go directly to that person. Do not stop, do not pass go. Head right for them with an open heart and open mind. It’s amazing how many people miss this basic concept. Note: Damage can be catastrophic if this concept is ignored.

2) Encouragement is a much more effective tool for teaching than correcting. Both are necessary, but be lopsided to encouragement.

3) Remember names. I don’t care what system or technique you use, but remember names. Nothing says, “I don’t care about you”, more than forgetting their name.

4) Consider others more important than yourself. Enough said.

5) Listen way more than you speak. Don’t just hear what they are saying, listen. A huge difference.

More to come shortly.

If church leaders are serious about changing their little corner of the world, then they must be serious about re-thinking their ideas about many things. This will result in a messy, but more fulfilling, ministry.

Here are a list of questions that can diagnose whether you are functioning for the institution you run, or for God and His people.

Not: How do we grow the institution?
But: How do we grow people?

Not: How do we motivate people to serve in the church/institution?
But: How do we equip people and release them to serve outside the church/institution?

Not: How do we convince more people to come?
But: How do we inspire more people to go?

Not: How many programs can the church start?
But: How many programs have other churches/organizations started that we can help support?

Not: How many people are members of our institution?
But: How many people have a committed relationship with another brother or sister in Christ?

Not: How do we make people dependent on the institution for their growth?
But: How do we equip people to grow independent of the institution?

Not: How much revenue can the institution generate?
But: How much revenue can the institution give away?

Not: How many buildings, pastors, and programs are necessary for the institution to have maximum exposure in the community?
But: How few buildings, pastors, and programs are necessary for God’s people to have time and energy to engage the community?

Not: How is God blessing our church?
But: How are we extending God’s blessing to our world?