ABC Student Ministries First/Second Quarter Report January - May 2015 Developing Students

Its hard to remember all the way back to Januarybut in our January 2015 parents meeting I tried to give a summary of our purpose and goals. The foundation of everything we said that night is that all we do must be about developing students. In fact, its a helpful evaluation question. In what we do as families and as a local church how does this help or harm the spiritual development of our students? How does what we model as priorities we choose help in the development of students? I read a quote this week that was thought provoking for me: "I'm having trouble hearing your words over the thunderous noise of your example." We are always teaching and developing students, sometimes we dont always recognize the example we are setting. What an opportunity we have to develop students! I hate writing goals and not following up on them. Throughout this year I want to provide a couple updates on how we are doing accomplishing our goals and purpose. Ive tried to quickly summarize each area as best I could. Personally, as youth pastor, I am constantly thinking vision. Its healthy to regularly evaluate how we are doing, are there better ways we can develop students? What are we producing? Thanks for taking a few minutes to read this. I welcome your feedback.

Goals for 2015 To have 2 students come to know Christ through the influence of this group (through actual youth activities or

relationships students have outside of church) Students have opportunities to plant seeds, to my knowledge I dont know of any salvations yet this year.

To have parents start helping serve in youth activities once a quarter. No activity applicable for this in the first quarter We have four families volunteering for our May 22nd Late Nighter. Also, one parent was involved in our

Creation Museum trip. Its been a blessing already to have parents involved.

To see all high school students baptized. All but 2-3 high schools student have been baptized. The remaining students are not regular attenders (nor

are their parents) of ABC.

To average 30 students in Wednesday youth group and 20 students in Sunday School. We have averaged 26 students on Wednesday nights and averaged 23 students in middle school and high

school Sunday School. There are approximately 35 students on the youth group roster (as of 5.13.15 - includes newly added soon-to-

be 7th graders) Numbers do not include sponsors.

To have one outreach, teaching, fellowship, or serving activity each month. We have had at least one (some months two+) activities that fit into one of these categories. If you are

curious to review our activities check out the youth calendar in the youth group section of ankenybaptist.org.

To have 85% of our students attend WinterBLAST 2015. 65% (21 of 31) of our students attended WinterBlast 2015.

To have 90% of our eligible students at the summer missions trip. (29 students eligible) We have 65% of our eligible students attending. That is still a considerably high number for most youth

groups. I am very thankful for our biggest participation in MANY years! Plus, there is a growing trend of participation over the last five years.

To have 70% of our eligible students camp @ IRBC 60% of our students are planning to attend a youth camp at IRBC this summer.

To see a greater measure of spiritual leadership in the lives of our students identifiable by actions, attitude and interactions.

We are a very young group. Probably most of you have heard me say in that in one form or another this past school year. We are a group that is very involved, committed etc. But, an overarching theme in our youth group is that we need to grow in our selflessness. One of the ways I am praying for our missions trip is that God would grow us into greater servants in giving and preferring others over self. With that, that God would even expose in specific ways where this is lacking in our lives. Generally speaking, we tend to look out for number one and make decisions based on what will I get out of this? There are so many exciting things with this youth group! In many ways their enthusiasm has recharged me in student ministry. My goal is continue to take their energy and involvement and use it to grow them more in Christ through intentional, discipleship relationships. I am extremely excited for the future of this group!

To have 80% of our youth group serving in one local church ministry outside of youth group. This has been met in large part because of the 2015 missions trip requirements. Plans are being made now

to continue to emphasize this post missions trip.

To emphasize the application of Gods Word to the life of the student: (Mentored on Wednesday Nights and 1o1 Mentoring)

Consistent teaching through Sundays and Wednesdays Wednesday night series - Abide Series a study in 1 John of salvation and assurance; Respectable

Sins a study on holiness, how we/God view sin, in-depth look on sins we tolerate; Bibliology doctrine survey.

Sunday School series - Demolishing Strongholds; OT Character studies; Soteriology - doctrine survey. Devotional training and accountability

Devo training has taken place for juniors and seniors in our NextUP Training sessions. Further training for remaining classes will take place yet this year.

Bible memory verse emphasis (1 verse weekly) Missions trip requirements has encouraged this.

50% of our teens solo with God consistently (5xs per week) Missions trip requirements has encouraged this.

Daily prayer Faithful participation in ministry (see goals on attendance above)

Missions trip requirements has encouraged this. Regular participation in the services of the church

Missions trip requirements has encouraged this.

To have 75% of our sponsors leading involved in 1o1 mentoring relationship. 28% of of our sponsors were involved in a regular, monthly 1o1 mentoring relationship. This is a huge

target area for improvement for the remaining months of 2015. There are many circumstances that are involved in this stat. For one, students schedules are extremely busy. We try to be as creative as possible on how to best find a time to meet with a student and not be a burden to the family. Second, sponsors have different life circumstances that pop up in their lives throughout the year that limited their availability. 1o1 mentoring is a huge burden of mine in our student ministry. I want to continue to lead the way in this and stress the great need of this to parents, students, and sponsors.