Surefire Habits

That Will Move Your Teens’ Faith From

Apathy to Intensity A Yo u t h L e a d e r e B o o k f r o m G r e g S t i e r & D a r e 2 S h a r e

C o o r d i n a t e d b y E m i l y S t o d g h i l l

5 Youth Ministry

Greg StierGreg Stier has been used by God to impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of teenagers across America. He combines amazing true-life stories with his own unique brand of humor to communicate Biblical truth in a way that not only inspires, but equips teenagers for action. As founder and president of Dare 2 Share, Greg leads his team toward the single goal of mobilizing teenagers to reach their world with the good news of Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8). He is the author of eighteen books and numerous resources, including Life in 6 Words, Dare 2 Share: A Field Guide for Sharing Your Faith and Gospelize Your Youth Ministry.

Visit www.gregstier.org.

Follow Greg on Twitter @GregStier.

© 2016 Dare 2 Share Ministries. Reprint/redistribution permission is granted for up to 50 copies. Not for resale.

Scriptures taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Your source for tools, training and resources to create a Gospel Advancing Youth Ministry.

• Spiritual Maturity: Nurture teens who are passionate about pursuing Christ.

• Faith Ownership: Build confidence as teens see the power of the gospel.

• Missional Lifestyle: Unleash disciples who take their faith out to their world.

• New Believers: Advance Christ’s Kingdom through your ministry.

Click the boxes below to explore:

We know the gospel changes everything – for believers, and for youth groups!

Visit www.dare2share.org.

Follow us on Twitter @Dare2Share.

Free resourcesstudent training

conFerencesYouth Leader

training eventsBooks and

curricuLum

444

SHAre THiS eBooK!www.DAre2SHAre.orG4

Intro ................................................................................................................................................................. 5

SureFIre HAbIT #1: PrAYPray by Yourself .........................................................................................................................................6

Get Others Praying for Your Teens .............................................................................................. 11

Get Your Teens Praying ......................................................................................................................12

SureFIre HAbIT #2: PreAcH on greAT SubjecTSSelecting a Subject ...............................................................................................................................15

What to do with Your Subject ........................................................................................................17

SureFIre HAbIT #3: A cAuSe WorTH lIvIng And dYIng ForTeens Need a Purpose to Live For ............................................................................................. 24

Teens Need a Community to Live With ...................................................................................25

Teens Need an Authenticity That’s Lived Out......................................................................25

SureFIre HAbIT #4: Tell STorIeSShare Personal Stories ........................................................................................................................27

Share Missionary Stories .................................................................................................................. 28

Get Your Students Sharing Gospel-Conversation Stories ........................................... 29

SureFIre HAbIT #5: AcTIvATe THeMTeach Them to Know The Word .................................................................................................. 30

Teach Them to Share The Word ...................................................................................................32

What You’ll Begin to Notice ............................................................................................................33

Student/Youth Leader Testimonies ......................................................................................... 34

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 35

Quick Action Plan ........................................................................................................................... 36

Table of contents

5

Intro

reading Tools As you dive into this resource and extract ideas for your youth ministry, some tools

you might find helpful are:

• Your Bible (physical or digital)

• A prayer journal (if you have one)

• Your style of note-taking (laptop, iPad, phone, pen and paper, or highlighters).

Today, one of the biggest challenges many youth leaders face when discipling their students is spiritual apathy. It’s this dead-eyed, “why am I here?”, “are we done yet?” look we often see any time we move from game time to message time. For some of us, the lack of vibrancy we see in our students stirs some pretty creative programming elements on our end just to keep teens coming to youth group. Did someone say potato gun?!

As these programmatic elements demand our extreme imagination, we start feeling like more of our time and efforts go into creating an energetic atmosphere than helping our students see the gospel come to life in their own lives.

But is it possible to get students excited to live out their faith, and even share it with others, without confetti falling from the ceiling every week?

Absolutely!

For the last 25 years of training teens to live out and share the gospel, God has unveiled to our Dare 2 Share team some powerful habits youth leaders have used to turn apathetic faith to passionate faith. With these habits, we’ve seen teens owning their faith, living it out on a daily basis, investing in their friends’ futures with gospel conversations, and overall ministries making exponential Kingdom impact in their communities.

This eResource will unpack these 5 powerful habits giving you and your ministry some practical tips that will inspire your teens to passionately live out the gospel and become a ministry that advances the gospel.

Be sure to check out the ‘Quick Action Plan’ at the end of this resource (pg. 34-36) to begin integrating these habits in your youth ministry context!

666

SHAre THiS eBooK!www.DAre2SHAre.orG6

Surefire Habit #1: Pray

It’s no surprise that the starting point of inspiring your teens begins with holy inspiration from God in prayer. After all, prayer is us letting God know that we can’t, but believing He can. It’s how we stay connected to the Vine so that transformational impact actually occurs as a result of our ministry efforts.

Pray! Wrestle with God in prayer personally, ask others to join you in the throne room, and teach your students how to come to their Heavenly Father in prayer.

Wrestle with god in Prayer Personally

Since God’s plans for our ministry aren’t always apparent, sometimes we need to wrestle with Him in prayer.

Paul explains Epaphras’s prayer life like a wrestling match:

“Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.” Colossians 4:12

Have you ever felt your prayer time become like a wrestling match with God? We try to get Him to say “Yes” to our requests and He seeks to get us to “tap out” and surrender to His will. We lunge toward His throne with intercessions on behalf of our unreached teenagers to be rescued and our Christian teenagers to be matured. We, like Epaphras, can wrestle in prayer for others that they “may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.”

7

If you haven’t wrestled with God in prayer on behalf of your teenagers, it’s time to start. Charge God’s throne room with passionate pleas on behalf of this next generation! When you do, you’ll find a closeness to God you never thought could exist.

When I started as a youth pastor, I struggled like any youth pastor. Sometimes you’re just showing up, and you’re like, I don’t even really love these people, you know?

I’m just being honest...

But through prayer, God got me on my knees, and gave me His compassion, and so

my heart was aligning with His through prayer.

As I prayed, my heart broke—kind of like when Jesus went down the mountain and

He looked on the crowd and saw all these people that were lost without a shepherd. He had compassion. That was the first mark of His ministry. That is why He came—to seek and save the lost.

So I started to spend my Thursdays with my note cards that had the name of every single student in my group. I would pray for two hours. After that God starting growing the ministry.

I learned that prayer empowers us to really love what God loves—which is for all to come to know Him. And it empowers us to hate what God hates—which is for people not to come to know Him. Prayer is like a catalyst for evangelism. It compels us to go out. And because the ground is softened through prayer, more will come to know Him. Then after people know Him, discipleship happens, and those students begin to get trained to share the gospel, as well.

Praying for Youth Ministry - John Curiale’s Story

8

Remember

”True prayer is measured by weight, not by length.”

charles Spurgeon

Do you have a youth group contact list on your phone or computer? Pray through the list on a regular basis.

Youth group contact list1

Put a photo wall up in your office and pray through the faces.

Photo Wall2

Write your students’ names on note cards, then go for a walk each day and talk to God about them.

names & notecards3

Set up a daily appointment on your calendar that’s blocked off to connect with God about your students, their unreached friends, your weekly program, annual calendar and leadership team.

daily Appointments4

Keep a prayer journal with notes of what you’re praying for and how God answers your prayers.

Prayer journal59

8 Practical Ideas to help you becomeincreasingly intentional as you personally

Wrestle with god in Prayerabout impactful ministry and stirring your students for the gospel:

If you need help being accountable, find a prayer partner and pray together for your students and ministry—in person or over the phone on a regular basis.

Prayer Partner6

Pray through selected Psalms for your students—that their hearts will increasingly hunger and thirst after God:

• Psalm27: Pray that they would seek the Lord as their“One Thing” and share Him with others.

• Psalm42: In trouble or joy, pray they would thirstdeeply for the Living God and share His Living Waterwith their friends who need Jesus.

• Psalm63: Pray they would know the truth of God’slove, that it is better than life itself, and that this truthwould be the driving force in their lives.

• Psalm119: Pray they would embrace God’s principlesfor the “good life” and advance His Kingdomeverywhere they go.

Psalm Prayers7

Pray for one or two students per day. As you pray, jot down a Bible verse and some personal encouragements in a text or in a note and send/give it to them.

Personal notes8

10

Pick one idea this week and try it out. Purposeful, regular prayer will excite your ministry efforts for inspiring your teens like nothing else! Prayer will keep you connected to the vine and will move the hand of God on behalf of your students and your ministry.

Action

11

There’s nothing like a spiritual air force of intercessors to send prayer bombs that shatter strongholds of apathy in young hearts and minds.

These prayer warriors can be parents, volunteer leaders, neighbors, church staff members, and so on; whoever they are, you’ll quickly discover that their prayers are an incredible force for your ministry and students.

Gather a handful of people in your church or elsewhere who would be willing to pray against the strongholds in your students lives that keep them from living passionate, gospel-centered lives.

• Ask this list of people in person or over the phone if they would

consider being a prayer warrior for your youth ministry. Tell them about

the mission God has given you in leading your ministry so that they

have an idea for the types of things they can regularly pray for.

• Call or text these prayer warrirors before youth group begins or as

you are preparing your talks for the week.

• If you don’t have a handful of people to ask, you can always send out

a tweet on Twitter or post on Facebook to get people praying for

the teenagers who weekly hear you speak. Ask them to pray that their

hearts set on fire with the truth of God’s Word and the urgency of God’s

mission.

• If you have volunteer leaders, use them! Gather your leaders for

prayer before and after your weekly meetings. Admittedly, this

one takes some extra commitment. Place an expectation on your

leadership team to arrive at youth group 30 minutes before the

program starts so that you can pray for students by name and pray that

the gospel would advance both in and through them. Then after youth

group is over, take 10 minutes to debrief the night, address roadblocks

and pray that your students would engage their friends in gospel

conversations in the coming week.

Here are some practical tips for recruiting others to join you in praying for your ministry:

Get Others Praying for Your Teens

12

When you and your volunteer leaders model prayer transparently and authentically, you’ll

help your teens grasp its centrality to all of life.

To See Authentic Prayer Modeled Well

Often, teenagers don’t pray because they don’t know how. Of course you can purchase

or develop a good series on prayer on your own that will show your students how to pray

with power, but there are also a couple of different simple acrostics you can use to teach

them to pray. Either the PRAY acrostic (Praise, Request, Ask, Yield) or the ACTS acrostic

(Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) are helpful, holistic prayer outlines

that are easy to grasp and simple to remember. For more on these acrostics, click here.

To learn How to do it Themselves

Get Your Teens Praying

Teaching your students to pray can be challenging. But what’s more basic and elemental to a Christian’s growing relationship with God than learning to cry out to our Heavenly Daddy in prayer?

So how do you actually teach them to pray?

Thereare4essentialingredientsyou’llneed:

Here are 3 ways on how to develop this passion:

To develop the passion that moves prayer beyond a “Santa claus wish list,” to a vibrant means of connecting with god

13

• FallinlovewithJesus — What stirs our hearts deeply about Jesus?—That He loves

us passionately, deeply, sacrificially and unconditionally. In other words, it’s the very

message of the gospel, understood deep in one’s soul that unleashes the floodgates

of emotion to connection to our God. So helping your students understand the

profound theology of the gospel and the depth of Jesus’ love for them are critical

elements in helping them cultivate a passion for connecting with God in prayer.

The more deeply your students fall in love with Jesus, the more passionately they’ll

connect with Him on a regular basis through prayer. Mountain top experiences

like retreats, weekend conferences or summer camps are good settings for taking

students to the next level in their prayer lives.

• Leanintodesperatetimes — While mountain top experiences are an awesome,

powerful means for taking students to a deeper level of prayer, hard as it may be to

hear, so are desperate times. Quite honestly, there’s nothing like desperation to amp

up our prayers lives and help us learn how to storm the throne room of heaven. We

learn some of the deepest truths about life with God in the toughest times—including

the truth that we can’t make it through without clinging to Jesus.

While no one wants to see tragedy strike, when it does, joining God in His process of

bringing good out of what was intended for evil can provide a powerful prayer training

ground. Remember, the Gospel Advancing spiritual vibrancy of the early believers

was born out of suffering.

• Getthemoutsidetheircomfortzone — Purposefully getting your students

outside their comfort zone is another effective catalyst for nurturing a more passionate

prayer life. And there’s nothing like evangelism to shake things up. The prospect of

going out and engaging others in gospel conversations creates holy tension that can

burst out in the form of worry or prayer. But if you point teenagers upwardly to God,

as you are taking them outwardly to engage others with the gospel, it can transform

them inwardly in powerful ways.

When Jesus unleashed His disciples on an evangelistic mission (Matthew 10), He

told them not to depend on their provisions, but to depend on the Spirit. Surely the

prospect of going town to town to preach the message of the gospel to potentially

antagonistic crowds caused them to pray like never before!

The same is true of your teenagers! Get them outside their comfort zone, challenge

them to begin a texting gospel conversation with their friends, or mobilize them to go

on an evangelistic mission trip and you will see an opportunity to get them praying

more passionately.

14

Weekly, creatively programmed times of intercessory prayer will help your students grow

in their own personal prayer lives, AND it will increasingly shift your youth group focus off

“what’s in it for me?”, toward Kingdom impact and reaching teenagers who need Jesus.

Here are four specific, practical approaches you can try that we’ve seen gain a lot of

traction among teens in growing ministries.

1. Incorporate a time of intercessory prayer into your worship time. During the sing-

ing, have a group of leaders available to pray individually with students who want

prayer. We have seen this simple adjustment to the weekly program become such a

huge draw for teenagers that they begin inviting their unreached friends, just so they

can get prayer for a particular struggle or challenge in their personal lives.

2. Pray in small groups by school. Gather your students into small school-based prayer

clusters and give them five minutes to pray together each week for their friends who

need Jesus. This weekly rhythm will help keep reaching out to their friends with the

gospel on their radar. If possible, spread your student leaders around among these

groups to help lead the way.

3. Develop a Cause Circle wall. This can be as simple as putting up a whiteboard/

chalkboard with THECauseCircle drawn on it, where students can write the first

names of their friends who need Jesus. Or you can get more sophisticated and draw

a Cause Circle on a wall with some chalk paint and have students put their friends’

names on sticky notes on the wall. Incorporating a time of prayer into your weekly

program around THE Cause Circle wall is a great way to encourage students to pray

regularly for their friends.

4. Close your weekly meeting by praying for revival. The key is to get the whole group

involved. If you are able to encourage your student leaders to pray first on behalf

of their schools and friends, they will set the example for the rest of the students at

youth group and you will be on your way to shifting the culture. Switch up the me-

chanics on a regular basis to keep it fresh by using prayer partners, school clusters,

large group popcorn prayers, prayer circles, and so on.

To “just do It”

Use prayer as a way to inspire your teens for their faith, whether its personally, using others, or teaching your students how. As you do, it will give your ministry the fuel it needs to transform the way students relationally approach God in prayer.

Action

151515

SHAre THiS eBooK!www.DAre2SHAre.orG15

Surefire Habit #2: Preach on great

SubjectsOne key to great preaching is great topics. But sadly, far too often, youth leaders don’t deal with the greatest of topics. Instead they dance around subjects of self worth, friends and behavioral issues instead of unleashing the full force of great theology. It’s in the shadow of the great theological issues of identity and adoption, justification and sanctification, heaven and hell where these other issues are truly dealt with at a core level.

Want to help a teenager have a strong self-identity? Unpack who they are in Christ!

Want a teenager to start sharing their faith? Unleash the impending reality of hell for their friends who die without Jesus!

Want to inspire a teenager to walk in purity? Unfurl the truths of the impending return of Jesus!

Want an overall topic that energizes your students where they’re at and as they are? Relate every talk back to the powerful message of the gospel.

There is a good chance that there are teenagers in your group who are not-yet-Christians and this could be the week they put their faith in Jesus (2Corinthians6:2.)

not-Yet-christians Present1

When teenagers start putting their faith in Jesus during the youth group meeting, the atmosphere will become eletric with excitement (Acts2:41-47.)

An electric Atmosphere2

As you give the gospel, you are unleashing the very power of God in your message (Romans1:16.)

unleashing the Power of god3

Your teenagers will grow in their Gospel Fluency (ability to explain the gospel) from hearing you explain it weekly (1Corinthians15:3,4.)

growth in gospel Fluency4

Your consistency in giving the gospel will demonstrate to your teenagers that advancing the gospel is an unshakeable youth ministry priority (1Corinthians2:2.)

An unshakeable Youth Ministry Priority5

16

5 Quick reasons to give the gospel in every Talk

17

Ask God for the passage, the points and the practical applications. Wrestle with him over the illustrations, transitions and conclusion. God will give you just the right verses and just the right way to deliver the points if you approach him with persistence, humility and faith (James5:16.)

As DL Moody once said, “Jesus never taught his disciples how to preach but only how to pray.” Effective preaching starts with effective praying.

From beginning to end, prayer fuels the process.

The thing about preaching to teenagers is this, unlike adults they will let you know if your sermon stinks. Teens will start texting, talking or just get up and leave if they’re bored. Preaching to teenagers is like walking a tightrope without a net. If you fail, it will end up with a loud splat.

Soak the Whole Process in Prayer

Know What it Takes to be a Successful communicator

before, during and After Your Talk

Selecting a great subject is half the battle. The other half is what you do with your subject before, during, and after the talk.

before

18

Whether you are a youth pastor, professional youth speaker, small group leader or a teenager who wants to get better at speaking/preaching to your peers, here are five characteristics we’ve seen over the years that deliver a message in an engaging and heart-penetrating way:

1. Passion — The best youth speakers I’ve seen are on fire for the Lord andfor the message that God has given them. They are not just delivering acanned speech in a canned way. The fire that burns in them relentlesslyadjusts and tweaks their content so that it is making a maximum impact.When asked about his preaching style John Wesley answered, “I setmyself on fire and people come to watch me burn.” The same can be saidabout those youth speakers who are the most effective.

2. Sensitivity — The best communicators are sensitive to the Lord whenit comes to interpreting the scripture they are preaching from and theaudience they are preaching to. They bring the right passage to the rightneeds at the right time in the right way. This can only happen throughwrestling with the Lord in prayer and making sure you ask the rightquestions about the audience you are preaching to at that particulartime. Questions like, “What are their felt needs?”, “What are their real needsbehind those felt needs?” and “What is the text(s) of Scripture that willanswer those needs?” are all part of this discovery process.

3. Intentionality— The best youth communicators I’ve met have anagenda. They have a life message they’ve been honing, living andlearning that they want to pass on to the audience. For me it is inspiringand equipping teens to reach their peers for Jesus. For my buddy ZaneBlack, it’s inspiring teenagers to live their lives to the fullest for Jesus(resulting in evangelism and disciple multiplication.) For you it may besomething completely different. But whatever it is discover it, hone it andpreach it in a thousand different ways.

As Romans 1:11 reminds us, “I long to see you so that I may impart to yousome spiritual gift to make you strong...” Paul had a spiritual gift he wantedto bestow upon the Italian believers he longed to visit. Every youthcommunicator brings a gift too, a syringe full of truth and transformationif you will, that, once the audience is fully injected with, can change theirlives forever. Find the gift, that life message, and inject it into the heartsof your audience to make them stronger.

19

4. Authenticity— The great thing about teenagers is that their bolognabarometers are always on. They know if a youth speaker is full of humilityor full of themselves. Being honest with teenagers about your own strug-gles to apply that same truth to your own life actually encourages themto enter the fray and try. Teenagers aren’t looking for perfection but theyseek out authenticity.

5. Accuracy — Being a youth communicator is not a “Get-out-of-jail-free”card for having to rightly divide and accurately exegete God’s Word.Here’s the thing, when you preach the Word (not just your best storieswith Scripture sprinkled on them like nuts on a Sundae) you preach withdivine authority and spiritual gravitas. You unleash the Word of God to doit’s job and wield the sword of the Lord with precision and power.

As Hebrews 4:12-13 reminds us, “For the word of God is alive and active.Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing souland spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of theheart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is un-covered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give ac-count.” When God’s Word is preached accurately it convicts, convincesand cuts. It brings deep and lasting transformation and not cheap ap-plause.

Study to show yourselves approved ladies and gentlemen. Rightly dividethe Word.

20

One example of a teaching style we at Dare 2 Share like to use is a ques-tion-based approach called A.L.T.ernative teaching (A.L.T. stands for Ask. Listen. Teach.)

• Ask — Begin by asking deep questions. When you ask questions like,“How do we really know there is a God?” or “Will people who never hear thegospel still go to hell?” or “Does it really matter if Jesus rose from the deadphysically?” it allows teenagers to share what they really believe.

• Listen — As they express their beliefs don’t immediately correct them.Listen to them deeply. Try to find out, not just what they believe, but whythey believe it.

• Teach — Once you’ve listened, affirm their honesty, but not their heresy.Take your students to the scriptures to back up your teaching. (Doing sowill reiterate the authority of the bible to them.)

There are openers that tap teens on the shoulder and there are ones that pin them to the wall. Ask any speech teacher and he/she will tell you that you either win or lose the audience in the first few minutes (and maybe seconds) of your talk. This is especially true of teenagers. That’s why you must craft and re-craft your opening illustration until you are confident it will grab their attention and set your first few minutes with them on a trajectory of transformation.

Jesus was a master at this. He used stories and sayings that riveted his audience in a way that no rabbi ever had. As Matthew 7:28-29 tells us, “When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribe.” From his opening to his conclusion Jesus seized the attention of his audiences. If we want to be like Jesus, then we must learn to do the same.

Find an effective Teaching Style

Find an opening Illustration that Seizes Their Attention

during

21

Expository preaching is like a rifle shot. Topical preaching is like a shotgun blast. Both will get the job done, but one’s a little messier. That’s why the type of youth talks that lean in on one passage (instead of ten) tend to stick with teenagers better when trying to communicate God’s Word. Too often the topical, multi-passage approach gets sloppy when it comes to exegesis and is less impacting as a result.

As Spurgeon said, “I always find that I can preach best when I can manage to lie a-soak in my text. I like to get a text and know its meaning and bearings, and so on; and then, after I have bathed in it, I delight to lie down in it and let it soak into me.” Let’s soak in a text of Scripture, let it soak into us and then help our teenagers “cannonball” into it’s refreshing, transformative waters!

Whatever you are speaking on take it to the cross. From sexual purity, to self-image to media choices every subject becomes clearer in the light of the cross and empty tomb of Jesus. We need to relentlessly share the gospel with Christian teenagers because it is the key to the Christian life (1Corinthians1:18.) We must relentlessly give the gospel to unreached teenagers because it is “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16.)

If you think about it, the entire Bible is gospelized. As Colossians 2:16-17 (KJV) reminds us, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” The Old Testament is the shadow of Jesus and the New Testament is the reality of Jesus. So whether you’re preaching about the shadow or the One who casts it, you are preaching about Jesus.

Here’s another way to think about it: The Old Testament points to the person of Jesus. The gospels tell the story of Jesus. The Epistles explain the theology of Jesus. And the book of Revelation proclaims the victory of Jesus!

Genesis through Revelation is all about Jesus and his good news. Our talks should reflect the same thing! So gospelize them!

use one Primary Passage to Soak in the Message’s Meaning

gospelize it!

22

As James 1:22-25 reminds us, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

Effective youth talks lift up a mirror for the audience to look into, exposes them to the mess in the mirror and offers a comb, toothbrush and washcloth to do something about it.

If you’re teaching on the importance of spending time in God’s Word, challenge them to commit to a regular quiet time. If you’re talking on confession, take a few minutes of silence for them to confess their sins to God. If you’re talking on the urgency of evangelism, give them the 48-hour challenge to begin a gospel conversation with one person within two days.

But also give them a practical way to put it into practice. In a quiet time talk recommend a devotional for them to read daily. In a confession talk have them memorize 1John1:9 and meditate on it that week. If you’re talk is on evangelism, have them download the Dare2Shareapp and watch the videos before they begin their gospel conversations.

challenge Teenagers to Act on What They’ve learned and Show Them How

After

23

It goes without saying that those who are successful are so because of the time they took to refine their work. As a youth leader, you also have the ability to be a crafted speaker.

Take time to reflect on your talk.

How well did the message hit home for your teens? (Ask them to find

out from their point of view.)

Did your bunny trail lead you into a hole that never brought you back to the main point?

Did your talk relate to your teens’ lives, or did it take you back to your teenage past?

What went very well? What could have been adjusted? Were there

circumstances outside of your control that interfered?

As you comb through your talks, look at your critiques as opportunities for improvement and for effectively driving God’s message from you to your teens’ hearts.

Take note of How the Students respond to Your Message for Future Improvement

Herearesomepracticaltipstoimproveyourfuturetalks:

• Record yourself giving a talk. Later, listen to it as if you were one of thestudents and see how you respond. Does it make you want to apply biblicaltruths to your own life? Does it inspire you to do anything?

• Ask some of your top students what they thought about the talk. This will letyou know how students are translating your message, if your message was clearenough, and if it resonated with them.

• Wait before you begin to criticize your work. After giving a talk, adrenalineand emotions are heightened and you’re likely to take the smallest look from ateenager in the wrong way. Allow some time to pass, objectively take note of thethings you did well and the things you could improve on, then implement themin your next talk.

Take a risk and go for great theological issues your teens can handle. As you approach these issues, actively look for ways to improve your delivery. You’ll start to notice the electrifying change in your students as they listen to and interact with the message!

Action

242424

SHAre THiS eBooK!www.DAre2SHAre.orG24

Surefire Habit #3: give Them a cause Worth

living & dying For

Give teenagers a cause and they’ll begin to look at your youth group as a gathering place for mission minded believers excited to show up and get involved.

Teenagers love causes and we, as believers, have The Ultimate Cause, the very Cause of Christ himself: to make disciples of all nations (Matthew28:19-20). If you frame spreading the good news of Jesus as a cause and engage teenagers to reach their world and the world with the gospel (so that everyone everywhere has an opportunity to know Christ personally), then your youth group will grow.

Refuse to engage them in the cause of Christ and, sooner or later, they’ll find a cause of their own to invest in.

In a world of causes (good, goofy or great) for teens to get involved with this is The Ultimate Cause, THE Cause that Christ has called the Church to. If teenagers are taken seriously, trained seriously and are given a serious cause they can, quite literally, turn the world upside down with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Teens need a Purpose to live For

Over the years of investing in teens, we’ve observed three beliefs this generation needs in order to go all out for their faith.

Ever wonder why teens are so desperate to fit in with their friends at school? It’s because they desire to be in community with others.

That’s not just a teen thing, or even a modern-day phenomenon, even the early believers were found investing time with one another:

“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.” Acts 4:32

Talk about radical community! The early church was the opposite of the consumeristic, give-to-get version of Christianity present in many churches today. These early believers were one in heart and absolutely selfless. They were joined at the heart with other believers by a common Savior, a common creed and a common cause.

If this tribe cannot be found in the church it will be (and sadly often is) found elsewhere. Take a look at the number of teens involved in gangs, searching for people who will live and die with them.

The Christian life is not a solo act. We are part of an ensemble, a choir, an assembly of believers who are called to do life together.

Teens need a community to live With

Remember earlier when we said young people have a “bologna barometer” that is on at all times? It’s true. They can smell hypocrisy like a dog can smell the bacon from the other side of the house.

Teens don’t need perfect youth leaders. Teens need honest youth leaders. Teens need youth leaders that, in the words of Dr. Chuck Swindoll, are who they are “warts and all.” But they are failing forward together in the Name and power of Jesus.

Teens need an Authenticity that’s lived out

25

Whoever you are, whatever your station in life, whether it be pastor, student, parent or ministry leader just remember to be real. Authenticity will speak louder than your words, your clothes, the type of car you drive, the size of your ministry or the number of books you’ve written or read.

If you’re the real deal, people will always know where you’re coming from and, whether they like it or not, they will respect you for being straight up and honest. People who don’t even like you will trust you. Why? Because you aren’t faking it. Your “yes” is “yes” and your “no” is “no.”

Maybe that’s why Jesus was so hard on the religious leaders of his time. The Pharisees wore fancy-pants robes (oxymoron or foxy morons?) and strutted around like they were all that. Jesus called them on it and they killed him for it. But even in the throes of death, Jesus spoke the truth. He wasn’t out to impress anyone but his heavenly Father, so every word he spoke erupted from the catapult of authenticity. Jesus was and is the ultimate real deal, the gold standard of authenticity.

Want your teens to passionately follow Christ through all of life’s winding trails? Show them that their faith has a cause — The Ultimate Cause, THE Cause of Christ to seek and save the lost and to make disciples who can make disciples — and create a radical and authentic community in which it can be lived out.

Action

26

272727

SHAre THiS eBooK!www.DAre2SHAre.orG27

Surefire Habit #4:

Tell Stories

There’s nothing like a good story to transform apathy into intensity. Jesus did this throughout his ministry in the form of parables. The audience that listened to his powerful stories were so motivated that they followed him around like sheep following their shepherd, waiting for his stories to feed on.

Share Personal Stories

Nothing makes you more relatable than sharing a personal story with your teens.

The stories we’ve seen engage and energize students the most over the years have two common attributes: a dash of humor and sticking to the point.

HumorWhen you can, add in some humor. Humor is a great tool to use when communicating God’s Word to teenagers (or anyone for that matter.) It breaks down barriers, captures attention and gets the audience’s adrenaline kicked into high gear. As a result, teenagers are more ready to receive what you are seeking to teach them from God’s Word.

Note: when using humor, always transition to your serious point. The story/joke should never be about the story/joke. It should open the door to the point you are going to make to the audience in that particular talk.

28

Sticking to the PointKeep your story simple and stick to your point!

Raise your hand if you’ve told a story and got so wrapped up in it, you forgot the reason why you were telling it in the first place. It happens all the time. And nothing ruins the taste of your talk worse than a story that has trailed off and hasn’t circled back to the main point.

If you have a tendency to go off on story tangents, it may be worthwhile to make an outline of your story and practice it a few times beforehand.

Share Stories of Missionaries

Want to get your student excited for sharing their faith? Bring in stories of or actual missionaries who are on the frontlines of The Ultimate Cause. These individuals have unique perspectives of what it’s like to consistently share their faith — some in places where English isn’t the primary language.

If you’re looking for stories online, share stories of missionaries, both past and present, who have and are advancing the good news of Jesus in other countries in powerful ways. Use Google and Bing as your allies to find stories and show videos that will inspire teenagers to have a global perspective when it comes to the good news of Jesus.

If you’re bringing in missionaries to share stories, set up a Q&A time with your teenagers so that they get a real sense of the power and impact of missions work. If your church is bringing in a missionary to speak in church, ask that same missionary to speak in youth group.

29

Have Your Students Share Stories of gospel conversations

At Dare 2 Share, we like to keep excitement for our faith by sharing stories of how we are telling others about Christ. We talk about the good stories and the inevitable “fail” stories of bringing up the gospel.

This weekly 5 minute session is called “Take 5 for THE Cause”. It’s a simple element of our chapel time that encourages us to intentionally have gospel conversations with people who don’t know Jesus.

During your weekly group meeting, build in a time where your students can share stories about their faith-sharing efforts during the previous week. Whether they’re praying for their unreached friends, serving them through acts of kindness, or initiating spiritual conversations and sharing the message of the gospel, invite your students to share their stories. Mix it up week to week—sometimes sharing these stories in pairs, small groups or in front of the whole group. Encourage your students to share the good, the bad and the ugly—including missed opportunities that they didn’t think of until after the fact. After each story, stop and have someone pray specifically for the people involved.

To successfully insert Take 5 into your weekly programming, you might want to talk to a couple of your student leaders ahead of time and ask them to be ready to share something during the first few weeks to help get the ball rolling. Be ready with your own personal faith-sharing efforts, as well!

As you routinely incorporate this storytelling time into your ongoing programming, it will help keep sharing their faith on your students’ radar in their day-to-day lives. They will be challenged and encouraged by each other’s efforts!

303030

SHAre THiS eBooK!www.DAre2SHAre.orG30

Surefire Habit #5:

Activate Them!

We must help our teenagers to be doers of the Word and not hearers only (James1:22.) How? First through knowing the word, and then by sharing it.

Knowing The Word

What do your students know about the gospel? If you asked them, could they tell you a summary of the gospel message clearly and simply?

If not, teach your teens a shortened message of the

gospel and consistently repeat it to them throughout your youth group gatherings. When you give the gospel every week, you inadvertently equip your teens to evangelize. One of the reasons that more Christians don’t share Jesus

is because they don’t know how. When they hear you explain the simple gospel week after week they are trained to share the gospel themselves.

Dare 2 Share has created a mnemonic tool (see following page) to help guide youth leaders and teenagers through knowing and sharing the gospel message clearly and simply. (It also leaves room for users to personalize and expand on the six sentences as much or little as they please.)

God created us to be with Him

Our sins separate us from God

TheG.O.S.P.E.LMessage

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds

Paying the prices for sin, Jesus died and rose again

Everyone who trusts in Jesus alone has eternal life

Life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever!

31

32

Sharing The Word

The next part to activating your teens for their faith is encouraging and challenging them to share the Word.

One natural tool we like to use to help teens relationally engage in a spiritual conversation is through Ask.Admire.Admit.

Ask questions about what others believe, not to trap them, but to understand them and break down any relational barriers that are keeping them from considering Jesus.

Admire everything you can about what others believe in order to help people open up. Don’t affirm their heresy, rather their honesty. Find areas of common ground you can complement them on.

Admit that the reason you are a Christian is that you know you’ve fallen short and need someone to rescue you. That someone is Jesus.

You can also encourage them to use the free D2Sworldviewresources that will help them engage in deeper spiritual conversations with those from other perspectives. They’ll find loads of questions they can ask and areas they can admire.

Sharing the word of God should be practical and natural in conversation. That’s why it’s important for students to know and be equipped to share the gospel.

Ask. Admire. Admit.

33

When Jesus sent out the disciples they risked

being ostracized by others. And it was this very

risk that caused them to trust in the Holy Spirit

more and grow deeper in their relationship

with God (Matthew 10:19,20.)

What’s true of the early disciples is true of us.

It’s not optional. It’s not just for the specially

gifted evangelists. It’s for every follower of

Christ.

To follow Jesus is to follow him to death, to

a potential social death. If we’re not willing

to open our mouths and make known the

mystery of the gospel to those we know then

we, like the spiritually stunted believers in

John 12, love the praise of men more than

praise from God.

One of the biggest blessings of students

knowing and sharing their faith is that it

reminds us of the power of the gospel.

Romans 1:16 tells us, “I am not ashamed of

the Gospel for it is the power of God for the

salvation of everyone who believes….”

The gospel is like a grenade. It doesn’t matter

who pulls the pin, it’s gonna blow up! There’s

something inherently powerful about the

message of Jesus, so much so that most of

the evangelism you read about in the New

Testament centers around Jesus and the

disciples reaching complete strangers with

the good news. They were fisherman, tax

collectors, everyday Joes and Jolenes who

needed the message of hope.

deeper discipleship building confidence

once your students know and share the gospel you’ll begin to notice...

Another blessing, especially of taking teenagers out to share the good news with strangers, is

that they are forced to rely on God. As you watch your students work up the courage to engage

someone about Jesus, you’ll see your teens relying on God to give them courage and opportunity.

And when they finally get there, not only do your teens help bring someone else into the kingdom

but they themselves are transformed a little more into the King’s likeness. Students begin to own

the gospel they proclaim and they begin to grow in their faith at an accelerated pace.

complete reliance on god

34

TestimoniesThe most insane thing just happened. I didn’t go to school so my mom and I could go to breakfast, and after I went to the beach with one of my friends. We walked from my house where there are these stairs to walk down to get to the beach. And we see this guy there sitting on like the edge of the stairs just sobbing. So I go over to him and am going over what you told me/ what I learned at the conference. I started talking to him and he said that he had come here to jump. He said that things at home were not going well, his dad had died two weeks before, his mom was an alcoholic, and his dad was the one person who understood him. His dad had died of cancer too, so I started talking to him about how I was in the same position with my dad, and how alone I had felt, and at that point just started reciting verses. And he turns to me and says “what did you just say?” so I recite it again. he just says “I think I’ve heard that before. a long time ago. “

So I start going in depth and talking about Jesus and he is just still sobbing and he kept wanting to hear more and I sat with him for forty five minutes talking and he got off the edge of that cliff and we prayed and he got saved right there and I am still shaking.

My real hang up was about discipleship. When I went to bible college I was taught the bible, and I was trained to teach the bible. Over the past 12 years of ministry I have educated people in in the bible. But Greg Stier was talking about kids sharing their faith, and honestly it made me nervous. I remember thinking “what about discipleship” and then as if on cue Greg said from the stage “if your concerned about discipleship…” so he had my attention. The idea was that students and really just people could share their faith knowing just the basics and that the experience of sharing the gospel would motivate them to grow in their faith with passion. This is the idea that was transformative to the way I approach ministry. It was such a shift for me that it actually gave me a small headache and drove me to prayer.

Now I am totally committed to THE Cause! I am consumed with a desire to see our youth group changed from a place of education to practice. I will not rest until I see this fire in the eyes of our youth and then we going to Ignite the rest of our church.

The girls in my small group are equipped and excited to tell their friends about Jesus. Some of them love Him already, but now they have the courage and tools to go out and talk to their friends and have those tough conversations, being that awkward is AWESOME! They are beginning to see that their friends who reject their message of Jesus are not rejecting them, but Jesus, and that is their choice.

Student from the Fearless Tour

christina, Youth leader from the Fearless Tour

nate, Youth leader from the Fearless Tour

353535

SHAre THiS eBooK!www.DAre2SHAre.orG35

Ditch the last-resort, long list of added elements that BOOM, Zing!, and blare at your students for inspiration. Instead, create habits of interceding against the strongholds that keep your students from having passionate faith, sticking to topics that unleash the full force of great theology, reaching their hearts with Christ’s Cause, inspiring them with stories of faith in action, and equipping them to personally know and consistently share the good news of Jesus Christ. Once you begin using these habits, you’ll begin to see deeper, Kingdom impact and a fire in your students ready to spread!

conclusionInspiredtoinspire?

Action Plan

Next2-3Days

• Some of you might be drained from “doing” youth ministry.Carve out some personal time to get inspired and filledup personally. Ideas: prayer walks, playing an instrument,journaling, taking a day nature trip…whatever helps you connectbest with God personally.

• Ask God to break the strongholds in your heart that haveturned youth ministry to just another job and your students tojust another batch of pupils.

• Pray for your students individually. (See pages 7-8 for prayerideas.)

Prayer-Spend some time in prayer by yourself.

36

Here’saquickactionplantohelpyoubeginintegratingthese5habitsintoyourministry:

IntheNextWeek

Prayer-Ask 2-5 people outside of your ministry to join you in praying for your students.

Quic

k

Next2Weeks

GreatSubjects-Create a quick list of the topics you’ve covered inthe past 6 months – 1 year. Next to each topic, evaluate how the messages were given and received to the best of your memory. Did students seem fired up about any subject? Were there any subjects you could have approached differently?

37

SometimeThisMonth

GreatSubjects-Think about (it may help to write down) the thingsyou do well as a speaker. Brainstorm some ways you can continue to grow these strengths. What are some things you don’t do very well as a speaker? (To get some ideas, refer back to pages 7-8 with the 5 characteristics of effective youth speakers.)

ActivateThem-Find/create a summary of the gospel. (Thismessage may change over time, and that’s okay.) Once you’ve done this, give the message to your students and teach it to them. (This is a great message to give consistently so your students will really know it.)

ACauseWorthLiving&DyingFor-Basedon your messages and time together, think about the themes or causes have you told your students are important to the Christian faith? Do any include sharing their faith with others?

Prayer-Get your teens praying! Teach them how to pray, what prayeris for, what prayer looks like (model it), and ask for volunteers to pray during your time together.

ACauseWorthLiving&DyingFor-Introduce yourteens to THE Cause of Christ. Then, show them how Christ’s Cause is related to the other causes they enjoy.

TellStories-As you introduce Christ’s Cause, Share a story(good or bad) of how you told another person about Christ.

TellStories-Ask your students if they have tried tellingothers about God. If so, see if any are willing to share their story with the group. (Create a culture of story-telling from week to week to encourage students to share their faith with others.)

TellStories-If you don’t already, use stories in your messages!

SometimeintheNext2Months

ActivateThem-Challenge your students to share the gospelmessage with someone they know who doesn’t know Christ.

38

ActivateThem-Create an event where your group willintentionally go out and share this message with strangers together. After, grab a meal and share what happened with one another.

Want to dig deeper into building habits that will set your teens on fire for their faith and give you lasting

ministry impact? Learn more about becoming a Gospel Advancing Youth Ministry!

A Gospel Advancing Ministry outlines what we believe to be the clearest roadmap to having a ministry that creates passionate, life-long disciples of Christ who can go out and make other disciples.

Based on the 7 time-tested, biblical values, a Gospel Advancing Youth Ministry will look different for everyone. That’s because it’s not a method of ministry, but a mindset of ministry. Get a brief look at the 7 Values below:

1) Intercessory prayer fuels it

2) Relational evangelism drives it

3) Leaders fully embrace and model it

4) A disciple multiplication strategy guides it

5) A bold vision focuses it

6) Biblical outcomes measure it

7) Ongoing programs reflect it

leArn More AbouT becoMIng A goSPel AdvAncIng MInISTrY!

www: www.dare2share.orgemail: dare2share@d2smail.comTelephone: 1-866-448-0272