Live Blogging PDYM the Conference Session 6

Live Blogging Session 6

1. Discipleship cannot be reduced to programs and people
Discipleship can be viewed as 50% Relational 50% Educational
If student’s faith is married to a program or a person, when they are gone, their faith is gone
2. An “On Your Own” Discipleship philosophy is a top down philosophy
A Discipleship Strategy is the HABITS
H = Hangout with God
A = Accountability with Another Believer
B = Bible Memorization
I = Involvement in the Church Body
T = Tithing Commitment
S = Study Scripture
3. Expectations without experimentation= Frustration
Its better to teach people to fish versus giving them a fish
4. Discipleship Never Ends
The PDYM model focuses on Discipleship as a Process versus a Program
Connecting students to an adult leader makes the difference

1. Smaller is better when focusing on Fellowship (building relationships)
Christ had a group of 12 but invested in 3
Figure out how to make “Large” Feel “Small”
2. Volunteer leaders are better than paid leaders.
Paid leaders’ main focus should be to develop other volunteer youth workers, the volunteers job is to love on kids.
3. Shepherds are Better than Chaperons
4. Better is Better – Tweak, Twist, Don’t Settle
Messy people need a small group
“If you build a place where Students can share their hurts and pain, they will come” – Megan Hutchinson
“Hurt and abandonment in teenagers in pandemic in our world today and in our youth groups–every single teen hurts.” Megan Hutchinson
“Pain is always top down” – Hutchinson
If the church doesn’t do anything to help the hurting, who will?
There is more than one way to do small groups
Small Group leaders need to be set up for success
Empower small group leaders to be their kids’ youth pastor
Small Groups rise and fall based on their leader
Small Groups are the Bridge to the next steps (Discipleship – Ministry)
The bottom line is to cultivate relational capital – Ben Taylor

There is a direct connection between Evangelism and Worship
We need to expand our focus of worship to celebrating God
Genuine Celebration is attractive and makes a heartfelt connection with unbelievers
We have to be careful not to create a “Club” mentality in our environments
Be aware of your audience.
Work hard for an understandable message.
Value Fun…What is our element of “Fun?”
A Front door program should be about relationships, relationships, relationships
The Entry Level Program can be broken down to 3 key focal areas: 1. The people 2. The place (environment) 3. The program
Worship is a part of everything students do. – Latasha Morrison
“Dont think like a youth pastor, think like a church planter” – Jason Gerdes

Purpose Driven Ministry has Godly leaders.
If your Ministry is bottle necked take a look at your ministry, it may be because of you.
Discovering God’s Purposes Begin with God’s Word. (The Great Commission & The Great Commandment)
You have to own the Purposes of your ministry, no one will bleed it like you!
If we push people to be evangelistic, we have to be that way ourselves
Biblical Purposes will clarify a ministries existence
There are several ways to say the same thing
Biblical Purposes will minimize conflict in your ministry
Biblical Purposes will help create excitement
A ministry guided by Biblical purposes is not easy to build…but its healthy
People unite under a vision that is bigger than their own
Will your ministry pursue Biblical Purposes?
Evaluate: Do the people in your ministry get the Biblical Purposes for your Ministry? (Leaders, Students, Parents, Staff, Etc.)
You cannot fit all of the Biblical Purposes into one Program. Make sure each Program/Process has 1 Primary & 1 Secondary purpose
A lot of churches are using a discipleship method on students who are being forced to be at church, so it doesn’t work.