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!