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Hey Friends,

It has been a while since I spent any time blogging and I'm ready to begin the discipline of sharing my life with the world again. However, I will no longer post to www. studentministryhelp.com , instead I will be using www.mattsilver.org and will put both personal and professional posts on that site. Please stop by the site and post a hello!

Getting Rid of the Gorilla

Brian Jones, our senior pastor, latest book Getting Rid of the Gorilla has just been released. Frank Chiapperino, our adults minister, did the companion study guide. Both these guys are top notch! Here is a summary:

Living with an unforgiving heart is like living with a gorilla. The beast follows you everywhere. He squeezes marriages. He stinks up friendships. He growls at family gatherings and beats his chest at church.

An unforgiving heart ruins relationships, affecting everyone and everything you touch. Maybe you’ve tried and failed to forgive someone who’s hurt you. Maybe you aren’t sure you even want to try. In these confessions from Brian Jones’s own struggle, find hope and strength for finally getting rid of the gorilla in your life.

Click here to buy the book
Click here to buy the study guide

The Call You Don't Want to Make

"God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble and oppressed."

Man I got some favor tonight!

So, I'm at a hotel preparing for the PCTC (Pennsylvania Christian Teen Convention) taking place tomorrow. After nearly a two hour car ride and a planning meeting I checked into the hotel and went to my room to relax before dinner. Part of relaxing is of course... well... taking care of business (business referring to a bodily function that isn't #1).

We then went out to a nice dinner, took care of some minor planning details and I was back in my room around 9:30. When I went to the restroom to take care of the first number (stay with me!!!), I was shocked at what I saw... residue!!!

Now one of two things happened...

1. I created a significant amount of waste that needed the utilization of a plunger (this hasn't happened in years!) or
2. I'm really mad at room service!

Regardless I had the feeling of... oh my gosh what am I going to do. This is where my pride came in; I did not want to call the front desk!!! I thought to myself...

1. There's no plunger, what could I use to Macgyver this situation?
2. I could call housekeeping and when they came to the door, demand to clean up THEIR mess!
3. Use the public restroom in the morning and let housekeeping deal with it in the morning.
4. Humble myself and make the call.

I chose option #4. I swallowed my proud and said to the front desk operator, "Dude, this is embarrassing but I need a plunger in room xxxx." To my surprise he didn't laugh at me, call me ridiculous names like "elephant man", or hang up on me. In fact he said, "Someone will be right up."

I'm now thinking, I'm going to leave the room. I didn't really think that but when the knock on the door came I was ready to do one of two things. Plunge it myself or tip the janitorial staff big time. When I opened the door I was greeted with a warm smile and a man armed with a plunger. I asked, "Can I plunge it myself? He chuckled and said "No, I got it!" I winced when he entered the bathroom. Uncomfortable, I returned to my laptop to do email.

In a moments time I heard the flush of the toilet and he was heading out. I thanked him and offered him the tip but he refused. He was in the room for less than THREE minutes but was able to fix the problem! The best part... "He smiled and said he was glad to do it!"

Here's the point!!!!!!!!!!! Do you have a mess on your hands and need to make a call for some backup? Who's the person in your life that is only a phone call away that is willing to get dirty in order to help you out? You know it's going to be embarrassing. You have no idea how they'll react. They may laugh at you, call you a name, or may even hang up on you. But isn't it worth making the call? Trust me, you'll be better off in the morning!

Christian Colleges

This is the time of year that students are looking at colleges with a sense of urgency. Juniors are feeling the excitement of one more year of school and seniors are pretty freaked because they only have a few more months to solidify this lifechanging decision. What schools are your students considering? Are they wrestling with the decision of whether or not to attend a Christian college? Because of our highly unchurched population, many of our students weren't even aware that they existed! Here are some things we have instituted to have them consider a Christian college/university:

• Have the school come to you. Many schools have a team of students who are willing to come out and run a service for you. They will also use this opportunity to give students information and perhaps even some free merchandise.
• Choose your events wisely. Every year our youth group attends a CIY (Christ in Youth) Summer Conference. Despite the fact that one of their locations is only an hour away, we choose to spend a day in a van to drive to Milligan College (a school I would love our students to check out).
• Jump in a van and do a loop. Offer a road trip for a group of students and go on a campus tour. In January I took our student leadereship team to CCU's Winterfest event in January and while out in Ohio we used the opportunity to detour three hours to visit KCU. Schools are more than willing to provide an opportunity to give a campus tour, allow your students to observe a class, and even provide free lodging and meals.
• Check out a campus ministry. We have not fulfilled this offer yet, but Penn States campus ministry has offered us a chance to check out their ministry while students are checking out the campus.
• Go next door. We are fortunate enough to have Eastern University less than 20 miles away. I have taken students to that campus to sit in on a lecture just to help them prepare for college. Consider the school in your local area just to keep college fresh on their brains. This is a great trip for freshman and sophmores.

Text your question

Mark Driscoll is the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle and is doing some pretty cool and thought provoking things. Check out this exert from his blog (click here to see the entire post) as he discussed a trip to Vegas to watch a UFC event...

Scott then took us to pick up our tickets for UFC 74 Respect. While waiting for our tickets, a few Mars Hill Church guys in attendance said hello. The fights were sold out and all fifteen thousand seats were filled. The sport has exploded and is selling out arenas all around the country. With the UFC also recently buying out the Pride Fighting Championships league, the sport is certain to only skyrocket. Curiously, it is most popular with men ages eighteen to thirty-four--the exact group that most churches are abysmal at reaching and retaining, in part because most churches and pastors have no idea what to do with men who are not motivated by a weepy worship dude(ish) singing prom songs to a Jesus who is presented as a wuss who took a beating and spent a lot of time putting product in his long hair.

What do you think of his comment as to why we are losing 18-34 year olds?

I also saw that after his last service on Sunday nights (at least for a duration) he allows audience members to text message questions for him to answer on the spot. Cool and daring concept! Some of the conversation he posted on youtube (see the video below). You may not agree with his responses, if you explore some of his other content on youtube, but you have to give him props for the concept.

Deadly Viper

Check out Deadly Viper when you get a chance. They're a cool ministry focusing on integrity among leaders. They have some great videos and are doing some really innovative things.

CCV Worship Experience

CCV family, please take a few minutes and fill out this survey regarding your thoughts and feelings about our Sunday morning worship services. We're trying to make some serious decisions about the future direction of our Sunday services and we need your honest feedback.

You can access the survey by clicking HERE.
Thanks!
Matt

Parental Concerns...

As a student minister, I am used to receiving emails from parents with a concern they have about something that has happened at a youth service or event. Regardless of the content, each one provides a glimpse of how that parent perceives the ministry. Our response to that parent is a goldden opportunity to cast vision for the ministry. Sharing that email with your leaders provides a training opportunity. I would suggest doing both. Here was an email sent by a parent along with my response.

-----Original Message-----
From: XXXXX [mailto:@msn.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008
11:31 AM
To: Silver, Matt
Subject: hey Matt

Hi Matt:
My name
is XXXXX and I have a son, 12 who is in Impact--XXXXX. He loves coming to church at the Movie Church and he especially loves the youth group meeting every Sunday night. Last Sunday night, he was playing one of the video games with another boy about his age (sorry he couldn't remember the name--XXXXX thinks it may have been a visitor). Anyway, this kid used extreme amounts of profanity (including the F word) the entire time he and XXXXX were playing this game.

XXXXX told the boy not to swear and the kid said he could do and say and whatever he wanted to. I told XXXXX that he should have gone to one of the leaders to report this, but he felt uncomfortable. I know you shouldn't yell at 100 kids bc one of them is swearing, but I am concerned that my child should not be exposed to profanity at a church get-together.

Matt, I appreciate all that you do for the youth and want you to know that my son loves CCV. I just wanted to make you aware of this situation and I've told XXXXX to let an adult know the next time something like this happens.

Thank you for your attention to this matter and God bless you as you continue to serve Him.

Sincerely,
XXXXX
610-XXX-XXXX
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey
XXXXX,

Thank you so much for taking the time to email me! I certainly wish a leader was in proximity to address that situation. I am going to forward this email on to them with all names removed to increase awareness. Through this email I am encouraged of two things:

1) XXXXX was willing to ask a student to stop using profanity. It takes a lot of guts to lead a peer and he showed it that day. Kudos to your parenting!
2) I am glad that a foul mouthed gamer felt comfortable coming to our church.

Please continue to pray for our students! I would guess that approximately 40% of them have parents that do not attend a church at any location. For them to keep coming is awesome! We as a ministry really go after a students consistency of character regardless of geographical location. We want our students that have a relationship with Jesus to integrate their Sunday night personality with their Monday - Friday school personality. We stress the same thing to those who are non-Christians. It is inappropriate to drop the F-bomb at any location whether it is at church, school, or at home well because it is a lame thing to do. It shows disrespect as well as a lack of vocabulary.

Thanks again for your email! Appreciate the feedback! See you Sunday!

Thanks!

Matt Silver
Director of
Student Ministries
Christ's Church of the Valley
1560 Yeager
RoadRoyersford, PA 19468
Ph: 610-792-0777 ext. 205
Fax: 610-792-1112
http://www.moviechurch.com/
http://www.studentministryhelp.com/

A Great Review????

Alright here's a pop quiz for you...

1) How many books are in the Bible? _____
2) What's the breakdown of those books:
Old Testament:
_____ # of Historical Books
_____ # of Poetical Books
_____ # of Prophetical Books
New Testament:
_____ # of Historical Books
_____ # of Pauline Epistles
_____ # of General Epistles
3) When the Israelites returned from Exile, who took on the task of spiritually rebuilding the Jewish People? __________________

Alright I'm done with the quiz but here are a few other questions. How would you score on an in depth Bible quiz? How well can you summarize the parts of the Bible? How about the leaders in your ministry, how well do they know the Bible? Are you the "go-to" person as biblical questions arise?

I have been working through Max Anders book, 30 Days to Understanding the Bible. This book is not only a great refresher from those Bible courses in college a long time ago, but provides short statements that will help you communicate more concisely about the Bible. This is also a great training tool for volunteers. Check it out!!!

Don't wait to change

So did you make a resolution? How are you doing with it?

For me New Year’s resolutions don’t cut it. I’m more of the spontaneous let’s start now kind of guy. For example, in the past I used to say, “I’m going to go on a diet at New Years.” The problem is I would eat like a pig all through Thanksgiving and Christmas and when the New Year finally came I would find myself 10 lbs heavier! New Year Resolutions are an excuse to continue bad habits for a continued portion of time. I bet some people have vowed already to make 2009 the year they go on a diet!

For youth ministers, the New Year typically occurs in September. That’s our big chance to start fresh, create momentum, and institute some new dynamics. We can have the same natural tendency to not re-evaluate or try anything new until the next calendar year continuing to forge ahead until the school years over.

I recently read Andy Stanley’s book the The Seven Checkpoints for Youth Leaders and it caused me to create some big changes in my teaching calendar. The need for reevaluation came from four questions posed by Andy and Hall:

If we could permanently imprint anything on students’ minds, what would it be?
What do they need to know? What is the irreducible minimum?
When everybody else is “doing it,” what’s going to keep them from joining in?
When they are sitting in a dorm room during their freshman year contemplating their options for the evening, what principles or truths should drift through their minds in that potentially defining moment?

After reading those, I was convicted that some of our topics were just too broad and not specific enough. I felt that I was trying to cram too much material in one calendar year. Perhaps those questions will encourage you as you review your teaching calendar for the upcoming months. Remember, you can begin a resolution today!