The One Mistake Every Worship Leader Has Made (And How To Fix It)

Have you ever heard a worship song & thought, "Wow, this song would be great for our congregation"?

Chances are, you have. As worship leaders, we are always looking out for new songs... Especially when that one student comes up to you saying, "Are we doing Oceans AGAIN tonight?"

In our search to create the perfect database of songs to choose from, we find ourselves running into this one problem: Choosing the "perfect set list" & having it become a trainwreck.

Click To Tweet 

"We create worship sets with songs in mind, not our team"

Our mistake is often that we create worship sets with songs in mind, not our team.

If your youth band consists of one guitar, one singer, & a cajon, don't do songs like "Alive" (Hillsong Young & Free) with the expectation that it will sound just like the original.

Similarly, we need to have our teams in mind when creating a set list for our services.

For example, if we are doing Oceans or another song in a higher key, I will be sure to schedule a male vocal to cover the tenor parts so that our worship set is not top-heavy (soprano-heavy).

We need to keep our teams in mind when creating sets. If we do not, we will become discouraged; our team will become discouraged; and ultimately our congregations will feel our discouragement.

To be successful and effective for the Kingdom in worship, assess the skills & talents of those on your team. Release them to add their strengths to the team, and be sure to encourage them to grow in those areas that are weak. Delegate responsibilities to youth leaders and students (yes, students) on your team with the anticipation that they will grow in maturity & responsibility. Create a culture of worship & teamwork on your team, and their hearts will flow out of that during a worship set.

Each team has been created uniquely in terms of people, gifting, and personalities. What has God called your worship team to value? Who has He called your team to be?

If you would like to book us for a worship team training/workshop event, contact us!

Doing Worship Well

Something I've noticed as a worship leader is that while performance is not everything, presentation definitely counts. If you've seen some of the videos put out by professional worship bands (Hillsong Young & Free, Bethel, Jesus Culture, etc), you've noticed that there is a certain quality in their presentation. However, most of our churches don't have the equipment or finances to hire our own set builders, lighting designers, & graphics assistants. So how do we work with what we have, staying within our budgets and still creating quality presentations?

One way is changing up the way we show lyrics slides. If you own a software licensed with your church like Media Shout or ProPresenter, you've probably used both stills (picture backgrounds) & motion clips for your worship lyrics. And if you've just started using it, you'll see that the features, particularly on ProPresenter, are great! But, five months later you realize you've been using the same backgrounds, fonts, and usually the same songs. How can we mix things up at this point?

Three words: Hand Drawn Lyrics. Or really any font that looks hand drawn. Here's an example:

This summer, we took our students up to Yosemite for camp. One thing that really up-ed our worship game was these "hand drawn lyrics". Rather than the regular black-and-white Arial 55-pt font on a projector screen, we gave the students some new lyric slides. Now this isn't the magic key to creating a worship atmosphere, but this is one step towards the goal. 

After trying this out for ourselves & seeing how much change it made to the overall worship presentation, we decided to share this with each of you. Try this on a Sunday morning or youth mid-week service & let us know how it affects your worship experience!

Here are some links to a few songs we've done these lyric slides to:

Oceans - Hillsong

Never Gonna Stop Singing - Jesus Culture

Good Good Father - Chris Tomlin

Holy Spirit - Jesus Culture

If you would like to book us for a workshop session on creating an atmosphere of worship and/or stepping up your presentation game, contact us!

A Symbolic Moment

The use of a symbolic moment can be so powerful, and can really put into action an idea. Such was the case as we ended camp in Yosemite Sierra. We had a powerful week talking about our intended, broken, and restored identity in Christ. We ended the week on top of Star Rock overlooking Yosemite and led the the students by candle light down to a meadow, where they waited in the dark shoulder to shoulder. The camp director then lit his candle and explained that we are the light of the world and that the light inside of us can never be extinguished. Each person then lit their candle and placed it on a cross at the center of the field. What an incredible way to not just tell but show these students the life changing power of the Holy Spirit. How can you incorporate a symbolic moment into your programming to help your students not just hear the message, but partake in the message. 

One Quick Way to Get Students Excited (5 Minutes or Less!)

We are always looking for new ways to get students engaged on social media & interacting with us. We have done video series' (and we're in the middle of one right now), student stories, & graphics made by students. All of these things are great! More recently, as we've been coming up for camp, we've decided to make 15-30 second videos promoting camp. There is so much excitement in promotion. If you don't promote your events on your social media already, we would encourage you to do so. It creates more traffic on your social media pages as well as engages students! This clip at the top of the page took a little less than 5 minutes to make & was done with two very simple-to-use apps, iMovie & Cameo. This is just a few minutes of your time for a long-lasting promotional tool to get students hyped! Our students loved it!It really is the little things that count. What are some promotional pieces you have used to get your students hyped? Submit your response in our comment section below!

Fighting Procrastination

It has such a stranglehold on my life and i've been fighting against it as long as I can remember. I have such a strong desire to wait until the last minute. I've worked so hard everyday to learn time management skills, scheduling, writing, and intentional reading. So this morning I'm Prepping my 4th message for this week thinking years back to when I couldn't even get one paper in on time. Thank you Lord for your spirit's gift of self-control. Pray that I continue to grow and push procrastination out of my life! 

Community Engagement & Your Students

A photo from the weekend of my high school outreach trip.

I was just thinking on some of the things I did with my old church as a student in high school. One of those things included going into the city and taking time to hear people's stories and serve them. For years I called it my "in-city missions trip". Sure, that's one way to put it. But as I thought on it some more, I realized a better way to say it was "community outreach/engagement".

Thinking on that, It really showed my mindset in high school. I did not see the rest of the city as my "community". I saw the rest of the city as a place that I stayed away from and every now & then would go into to "bless" or "serve" someone.

Years later, I am grateful to understand what it is to reach out to the community in different ways very often rather than once or twice a year "go into the city" and serve here and there. It begs the question, however, who do we see as our Community? And how often do we really engage our community for Christ? And ultimately, do we really desire to see our city (as a community) changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

BITS AND PIECES

 

Most of the time I pray for God to reveal his full plan for an area of my life, but instead he gives me bits and pieces and reminds me that if I knew the full plan I'd do it my way and miss the blessings that he has for me. Never forget that God as a full plan for your life, a plan that if you fully knew you would try to change thinking you knew better. Let him guide and direct you through The Word, Worship, Prayer, and Community. 

OUTSIDE THE BOX TEAMBUILDING

I'm up at Camp speaking to some Inner City youth, and the camp director announces that out next activity is Paintball, I've never seen young men so excited. Immediately I thought "okay great here it goes guns, welts, and way too much agression". Instead is was incredible to watch as these young men entered the obsticle course and quickly learned to create a plan and communicate with each as a unit. Ended up being a Great way to build teamwork and to get students talking about Strategies. You wouldn't believe how deep the conversation was after! Looking to do some team building in your youth group, think outside the box. Something like paintball might just be the answer that you're looking for!

A NIGHT HIKE TO REMEMBER

Tonight I was speaking at the Oaks Camp. After I gave my message, we hiked a couple miles in the pitch black darkness to the top of a mountain overlooking the city of Landcaster. When we got to the top there so many stars it lit up everything around us. After staring into the sky for a few minutes one of the camp leaders said now look down and you see those three big lights in the city. That's a prison I used to be locked up there, and now I'm standing here at the top of this hill a free man teaching young men how to be free men. What an incredible experience, I was so deeply reminded about the power of our Testimony! 

CELEBRATING FREEDOM

From SeanFenner

As we celebrated our Independence and the Freedoms that we enjoy in this country last night with Fireworks. I was reminded of all the people that live in war torn countries around the world. I felt like the constant barrage of illegal Fireworks on my block, mixed with an occasional Gunshot all around us until about 4am. Gave me the very slightest glimpse into the fear these people must feel every night as they try and lay their head down to rest. Yesterday I Prayed for my Country and my Family's continued freedom, today I pray for the freedom of all people and all nations.

LBCC INTERVARSITY SPRING SEMESTER

We had the last gathering for the Spring Semester at our LBCC Intervarsity Group today. It's Been an Incredible Semester with new students coming to the Lord, being launched into ministry positions, baptisms, getting connected at local churches, and so much more. Stay updated with us during the Summer and we pray and seek after the Lord every Thursday at Noon in preparation for our fall semester launch.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Making a difference starts with being willing to let God use you. To understand you are called to be an Agent of Change, and not to worry about what people are going to say or think about you. So get up and get there and live it out. 

WHEN GOD GIVES YOU A DREAM

Have you ever had a dream? A desire for something that you so desperately wanted? Maybe it's to get married, or have kids. Maybe it's to lead worship or create your own business. What ever your dream may be, do you trust God with it? Here's my story of Victorious Faith + trusting God with my dream.

Starting this year, I came up with a list of words that inspire me. I wrote them on my white board to remind myself every day of the things that inspire me; that get me fired up and passionate. Here's some of those words:

It was so funny because as I was writing this list, I was getting excited! I'm a words person (if you haven't already been able to tell) and these were firing me up! One word that I wrote was "wildfire". It was the first time I had written that word & felt so inspired. It was speaking something to me... I want to see revival in Long Beach spread like a wildfire. I want to see the Gospel spread this earth like a wildfire. If you know anything about wildfires, you know that they spread rapidly and they take over everything! That's how I see Long Beach and surrounding areas being ignited and on fire for Christ. This is my vision for our city, and this world. 

Rewind about 1 year before this moment... I was praying that God would allow a dream of mine to come true. I had always wished, prayed, and planned for an opportunity to be in a band. I'm talking some serious planning. I would Pinterest outfit ideas for the band, come up with band names, write songs for this "someday band", and always think about it. One day I realized that this was not the time for that, so I gave it to God and said "Your Will be done". 

So it's about a year later, I just wrote these inspiring words, got this "wildfire vision" in my head, and I'm pumped beyond belief. It didn't occur to me right away that this wildfire vision could have anything to do with my dream. But days went on and I had some funny dreams while I was asleep at night about having a band. There was one in particular that I woke up from and I couldn't shake it off! I started to see a correlation between that night-dream & MY Dream! 

I didn't do anything about it right away. Instead, I kept the dream in God's hands and asked Him to take care of it. I prayed that God would lead me to this band when the timing was right.

A month went by, and I was asked by the Celebrate Recovery leader at our church to get a worship team together for a Tuesday night and lead worship. I lead our youth team + have been a part of multiple worship teams here and there, but something felt different about this opportunity.

Concurrently, I was leading worship at our InterVarsity group on campus at Long Beach City College with some friends. I thought, "well, it's worth a shot to just ask if they could help me out. It's just one Tuesday night." And they were down!

I'll tell you what... That Tuesday changed the way I lead worship. It changed the way I organize a band. Everything was so wonderful that night, I couldn't believe it. We all worked together so well and I saw my worlds collide: church family, school friends, InterVarsity friends all together worshiping on the same stage. 

After that night, the Celebrate Recovery leaders asked us if we could make worship at CR a monthly thing! It was such a shock to me that they had enjoyed our band so much! We prayerfully considered + accepted the offer. Every third Tuesday of each month, we began leading worship. From month one, I had started dialogue with some of the musicians and vocalists about what it might look like for us to do music together indefinitely. As we began talking and sharing ideas, God brought us to a place where we were all in the right place to say yes to a band. 

We began working on music, making videos, sharing our hearts for worship, and fellowshiping together. We started this hashtag called #startingwildfires after I had shared my heart about the "wildfire vision". After some push and pull on a band name, we agreed to call ourselves the Wildfires.

Now, I want you know, I had a whole marketing strategy laid out, dates for announcements, all that jazz. But none of it happened that way. It was so organic and I'm so thankful for that. The past month that we did CR worship, our band is up on stage after our set, getting ready to play for offering when our CR leader announces that we are the Wildfires band! I was so shocked that he had said that because I didn't even know that he knew! My jaw dropped a little as I laughed because my marketing strategy had nothing on this organic announcement. It was perfect, and it was just the way God wanted it.

So here's what followed... We had our announcement. We played at the #LLCFCoffeeHouse as an official band (you'll be seeing more about THIS soon). Now we are looking forward at the doors that God is opening for us. 

I want to tell you all something... Your dream is not too big. It's not too small. It's not impossible, and it's not out of reach for you. If God has placed something, a desire, in your heart, He will see it to fruition. He is not a God of disappointment. God is a God of miracles, so trust in Him with your dreams, desires, and plans. Give Him full control & see where He leads you!

Here's our Debut Performance at the #LLCFCoffeeHouse!

You can follow our journey with God on instagram @wildfireslb

UYWI "Agents Of Disruption" Annual Conference

EVERYONE IS CALLED TO MINISTRY

UNITED LB: Building a Youth Leader Network

In my first couple of months as Youth Pastor one of the greatest lessons that I learned is that I cannot effect change in the lives of young people on my own.

This was what drove me to get connected with an Area Network for youth Pastors in the cities surrounding Long Beach. Yet as I began to build relationships with other Youth Leaders and do ministry in real Kingdom Partnership, I realized that I want this for my city. 

Some of the realities of Inter City Urban Youth Ministry are Under resourcing, Lack of Pay, and Lack of Partnerships. Naturally Youth Leader Networks help to remedy this issue, and as I began to build relationships with other like minded Youth partners in Long Beach we decided that one of the greatest things we could do for our city is start United LB. 

The Process started with a lot of Prayer as we began to come together in Unity believed for a Revival in the Hearts of the youth in our city. 

After We Prayed together, we began to dream together. What kind of ministry events would we put on together? What schools could we reach? How can we better serve the young people in our city? 

But dreams are just ideas waiting to be put to action, so we picked a day and began to contact as many Youth Leaders in our city as possible. Naturally a lot of people were excited and others wanted no part of the partnership. 

Not allowing disappointment to keep us from our goal, we picked a venue and set the date. In the end over 30 leaders showed up and we have our next quarterly meeting set up to Build, Equip, and Pray. 

So if you see a lack of partnership in your city, maybe the best option is to try and start a Youth Leader Network. As you move forward toward Partnership here are a couple of things to think about: 

What does Partnership look like in your context? 

How can you come together to do Kingdom Work that effects the greater body? 

Are you reaching out to full time Youth Leaders? Bi vocational? Or Both?  

What are your Mission, Vision, and Values going to be? 

Through Partnership we are able to be better Youth Leaders and effect greater change than we ever could as Mavericks or Lone Rangers. If you're interested in starting a Network I'd love to come in and do some training as you build new and long lasting change in your city. Connect with me HERE 

#ThankfulCouch: Second Chances

Here's a quick clip to encourage you on your journey throughout Youth Ministry from Sean of Youth Ministry Awaken and our friend Tyler who also actively serves in our youth group (@LLCFYM). Be part of the conversation: Leave a comment below about a time when you've been given a second chance by God. 

Join us in learning & growing in Youth Ministry!

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Youth-Minist...

WEBSITE: YouthMinistryAwaken.com

SEAN:

INSTAGRAM/TWITTER: @SeanAFenner

BLOG: SeanAFenner.com

KIMY:

INSTAGRAM/TWITTER: @KimyBrennan

Blog: KimyHBrennan.Blogspot.com

TURN YOUR CAMPUS 2016 RECAP

Last Saturday was an incredible day at Biola University with over 1,600 people coming out for Turnyourcampus! I'm always excited for events that I get to teach at, and bring our FUSION Youth to. Here's a pic with some of our crew! 

TurnYourCampus is a one day training event for Students and the Adults who mentor them. There were 40 workshops offered in tracks for Junior High & High School students, Youth Workers, and Educators.

This year I was invited to teach one of my seminars entitled THE CALL TO REBEL: Experiencing Jesus the way he really is! 

It's a teaching where I get to correct misconceptions about who Jesus is, and how he lived while he walked this earth. All three Sessions that I taught were packed out with Youth and Leaders sitting on the floor and listening in the hallway during my last session. 

I love to do seminars like this not just at big events, but camps, school groups, youth groups, or church services. If you'd like me to come to your group and give one of my seminars, connect with me by visiting our Booking Link! 

It was an interesting and unique experience like every year, and I couldn'tt believe how many people I knew at the event. I must have talked briefly to about 500 people throughout the day, and was so excited to see some of the Church & School Groups that I've recently connected with attending for the first time. 

One of my new friends Jose Rodriguez was one of the main stage keynote speakers, and he decided to give me an impromptu invitation to come up on the stage with him as he taught the youth a couple of hand tutting moves from his dance crew days. 

I also did a quick video shoot with UYWI for their upcoming National Conference entitled AGENTS OF DISRUPTION so be on the lookout for that at UYWI.org 

This is such a special event because youth from so many different Cities, Churches, School Groups, Para-Church Organizations, and backgrounds all come together under with the same vision of learning to LISTEN, WATCH, and FOCUS as they partners with God to Turn their Campuses! 

Whether its the Music, DJ's, Spoken Word, Main Session, Seminar Tracks, or the Lunch there really is something for everyone at this event. At our Youth Group FUSION we've made Turn Your Campus a staple event on our calendars every year, and I would encourage you to do the same. 

#ThankfulCouch: Community

Here's a quick clip to encourage you on your journey in Youth Ministry from Kimy & Sean of Youth Ministry Awaken. Youth Workers need to be fed too! Be part of the conversation: Leave a comment below (or on our YouTube channel) about a time you've been encouraged by community. 

• 
  

Victorious Faith: God Always Has A Way Of Bringing Things Back Around...

From Kimy Brennan

"Surrender All" - Jesus Culture

"How does God always know when to bring something back around?"

That's a question I ask myself a lot. His perfect timing literally shocks me. I'm going to tell you a quick story...

Once upon a time, I was in youth group. In my sixth grade year, my parents took me to church... scratch that, they dragged me to church. Yes! I was once dreadful of church... Especially youth group. I went on Easter to a church not very close to my house that seemed to be in the middle of no where! It was huge, and I really didn't care to be involved or even seen while I was there. I wanted to stay in the big church service so I wasn't alone, but my parents forced me upstairs to the Rotunda, the middle school youth room. I sat in one of the plastic chairs and stared straight ahead, "Why am I here?" echoed in my head. I got on my flip phone and pretended to be busy. An 8th grade girl came up to me, said her name, I said mine, we shook hands, and she said, "Hey you're really pretty!". I said thank you and she walked away. I felt a little less out of place, a little less insecure, and a little more at ease. Right before service started, a girl my age and one of the adult leaders came up to me & welcomed me. "Do you want to sit with us?" they asked. I nodded and followed them. A lot of people knew who they were and they were introducing me to a few others. I felt included. I felt like I belonged. Not very long after a game of Chubby Bunny, the message and worship took place. I hadn't made a decision towards Christ at this time, but I was moved by the fact that in a room of 300 kids I still felt like I belonged. I attended that same service for the weeks to come until I felt a tug on my heart; a literal anxiety rose up in me. I wasn't sure what made me feel like that all of a sudden. It was a tug to join the worship team. There was no announcement to join. There wasn't even an invitation. Something inside of me cringed when I thought about leaving without asking about it. So after service, my little legs walked right up to one of the only adult leaders I knew. My voice wasn't shaky, I wasn't sweating... I wasn't nervous at all. For some reason, I knew that this was what I was supposed to do. This leader pointed me to the Worship Leader & I asked him to be on the worship team. He handed me a CD to practice a song and sing it next week after service to audition with. I was terrified when he said that, but I did it. The next week when service was over, I got myself on that stage and stared at the wall. They began the track and I sang "Happy Day" OUT into that little microphone. I had never been on a stage, never used a microphone, and yet God had prepared me for that moment. From that moment on, Worship became a part of who I am. I began singing 3 services with the worship team almost every weekend. It just felt right. I got involved with small groups, children's ministry, events, set up/tear down every now and then, student leadership, and whatever else came up for me to serve in. I got a concussion one Friday night and still showed up to service that next day for worship because it meant the world to me. A lot of what I first learned about worship & singing came from that worship team. 

Now let me tell you another related story...

I moved on to high school eventually & was not able to continue being on the worship team past my freshman year. However, in my freshman year of high school, I went to a summer camp that had an effect on the rest of my life. During worship, I felt God's presence in my moment of complete and total doubt. I cried, I sang, and I believed again. I heard God and was comforted in a moment of uncomfortability. After a few more songs, we had a spoken word artist get on stage and do her thing. I was so impressed by her ability to communicate a story and captivate people by her words while being so creative and thoughtful. This woman's gifting led me into a whole new world of spoken word poetry. I began to write my own poetry to express what seemed inexpressible otherwise. I kept following her poetry as she released new videos & different things that affected me so deeply.

During this time, I was heavily involved with church, loved my church friends so much, and could never imagine losing them or leaving them. There was one day, however, when things became too overwhelming where I was living. There was no "safe place" for me. My life was imploding and my soul felt as if it was dying each and every day. My anxiety took over during this darkest time in my life and I couldn't find help. I reached out to people, leaders, friends... no one could give me the sufficient help I was seeking. One night I broke down & decided that I had to finally give it up to God. I learned what surrender looked like through a series of dark and inescapable moments. One morning I woke up to find that my mom was gone. I wasn't sure what to do and I definitely didn't feel comfortable in my house. There was nothing to do that morning except go to church. So I went, and decided to be joyful no matter what. My boyfriend at the time broke up with me & I heard rumors going around about me that cut to the deepest parts of my being.

That is the day that I moved to California. I called my sister and brother-in-law who had been offering for me to live with them for a while. They left the baptism they were at immediately and drove to Las Vegas to come get me. I moved in with them that Sunday. The next day, I started my junior year of high school.

Why do I tell you all this? What did God bring back around?

Well, now I am a worship leader. That spark that was lit in me by God and fostered throughout my junior high years led to me becoming our youth group's worship leader.

And that passion and intrigue within me for spoken word has carried me through some dark times where I didn't know what to do or say, but it flowed out through some of the poetry I've written. I also got to perform once or twice something I had written.

And those church friends I couldn't imagine losing... some of them kept in touch, some of them didn't. Even now & then I would get to share about what God is doing in me and through me with them. In fact, I got to do that with them and my middle school worship leader recently....

(Hosanna Poetry from camp, Guy my middle school worship leader, and I)

You want to know how awesome it is that God brought this back around? Let me tell you...

I had a dream not that long ago that I was back at my old church doing worship. I got to reconnect with some old friends and mentors & share about God working in my life. Now how funny is it that I actually was out visiting Saddleback's Celebrate Recovery with our team because we are launching "The Landing" (a student Celebrate Recovery) and I saw them all on stage preparing for the main session worship!

What is crazy is the juxtaposition of who I was and who I am now. I was just a middle school girl with big dreams to become a worship leader. Today, God has made me into the youth ministry worship leader. I was just a friend from the student leadership team, and now God is using me to help build up student leaders. I was just a high school girl in a crowd of hundreds of students watching Hosanna perform her spoken word. Today, I have a passion for spoken word that given me an outlet for hurts and hangups that I couldn't express before.

This spontaneous meeting also answered a question I have been asking myself for a while. Am I truly a different person, changed by Christ? Or am I just different because I'm in a new environment?

The truth is, for a long time I thought I had just been placed in a new environment & adapted without becoming a new person because I was still making mistakes that I had made before the big move to California. However, when I saw my friends again, and Guy & Hosanna, I realized that wasn't true. I realized that I am a completely new person. I realized my life has been changed by Grace & the Love of God. I answered the long-wondered question of... Can God really completely change a heart like mine? Someone who waivers between extremes... being all in or all out, often times picking the latter when it came to things of God. Someone who has been deceptive & hasn't always regretted it. Someone who enjoyed being rebellious and disrespectful. Someone with a wayward heart like mine who kept running from God and wanted to manipulate Him to get what they wanted and then leave him all together. The answer is yes, He can. Because that person is not who I am anymore. I am a new creation. I am for God. I am running toward Him. I am obedient to Him. I am all in.

2 Take-Aways:

1. Don't doubt the small moments in youth ministry. I'm sure it never crossed Guy's mind that his influence on me as my middle school worship leader would spark a desire to become a worship leader. I'm sure Hosanna may have prayed that her spoken word would touch someone in that crowd I was standing in, but I wonder if she knew it would open a door for me to be able to deal with things I didn't know how to deal with. Giving students a ride home or telling them they're gifted at something or just complimenting them may change their whole world. It may lead them in a direction they never would have thought of otherwise. It may change the world... What if it called out all the next-gen Worship leaders, lead pastors, youth pastors, business leaders, small group leaders, children's ministry pastors, authors, doctors, engineers all for the Gospel? 

2. Maybe life is hard right now. Maybe you have a wayward heart as I did. The answer is not running away. It is not to avoid the problem. The answer is turn towards God no matter how much it hurts for Him to chisel away at our rebellious sinner's heart. We need Him. We need to surrender & we need His grace. I can promise that God will create a testimony out of your life when you give everything over to Him. You will be reminded to look back one day as I did recently and ask the question, "Did God really completely change a heart like mine?" And your answer, given that you commit your whole life to becoming more like Him & following Him, will be yes. Nothing is impossible for God.

I want to encourage you to never give up... in youth ministry, or in your own life. Never give up on your students. Never give up on yourself. Nothing is impossible for God.  

TURN YOUR CAMPUS 2016

Mark your calendars for Turn Your Campus 2016 (Saturday, January 23rd, 2016), a catalytic, one-day campus/community evangelism training event held on the campus of Biola University. TYC is designed to encourage and challenge junior high and high school students as well as the youth leaders and educators who serve and support them. This event focuses on networking and building healthy student-to-student and ministry-to-ministry relationships. We are convinced that, as the Body of Christ, we are more effective when we serve together.

turnyourcampus.com

TYC is a partnered event, and is subsidized by Southern California Youth For Christ, Biola University, Urban Youth Workers Institute, National Network of Youth Ministries, Christian Educators Association International, and others (see full list of Sponsors).

Join Jose Rodriguez, Noemi Chavez, JGivens, Danielle Bennett, DJ Icy Ice and the Josh Chavez band for an amazing day together. Plus you'll get to choose from over 40 student, educator and youth worker seminars. For Example here's the seminar I will be teaching at the event

"The Call to Rebel: Experiencing Jesus the Way He Really Is"

Sean Fenner

Victorious Faith: 2015... And The Reveal Of My 2016 Theme!

From Kimy Brennan

2015.... Wow. It's been a crazy year. And I feel as though the end of 2015 has really set the tone for my 2016 theme.

Here's a quick recap....

January... I learned a LOT of lessons. I learned how to stand up for myself. I learned more about what I'm worth to Jesus because of the pain a lot of people caused me. I moved on from friendships & relationships that were holding me back.

February... I started my second semester of college! I started trying to eat healthier in this time (it... kind of worked... Lol!). I golfed again for the first time in over 10 years. It used to be one of my favorite things as a kid when my uncle and aunt would take me. I hadn't golfed since then, so it was a great experience to go back! I also found a passion for making videos.

March rolled around and I turned 19! Whoop! I also got back into art and creating things! I was just starting to learn a bit more about music theory in preparation for the dreams I felt God calling me to. My oldest sister came out to visit for my birthday & it was the first time I had seen her since I moved to California! So awesome. My friend, Alex Vieyra, and I worked on a few cool pieces of art that you can see on my Instagram. At the end of March, our church took our youth group to an event called "Night of Champions" (FCA Event @ APU) and it was epic! I started to enjoy soccer a little bit more after that event! 

April was interesting! My brother in law traveled to the Philippines for a mission trip on Easter, after some of the best Easter services ever! My sister & I spent some good 2 weeks together just having girl time! I made some good friends in school (which doesn't happen very often in College) and we made some really cool videos about sex trafficking & the "get active" campaign started my Michelle Obama.

May went by quick! I started meeting with a few students, my brother in law Sean Fenner and Beau Crosetto, who is the overseer of Greek InterVarsity. We had chats about starting an InterVarsity group at Long Beach City College.

Our youth ministry team & I went to UYWI's RELOAD Conference. It was such an experience to meet some amazing youth ministers & get training from the top Urban Youth Ministry Gurus!

Here's some quick vids from the conference...

And lastly, the craziness of youth workers from inside the hotel...

Also in May, we started a youtube channel for our youth group. Our first episode of The Takeover is on this link!

June was a good month. God spoke to me in many ways, including my major. I enrolled into Music Major classes and took a really huge step of Adventurous Bravery! I also was a part of a 6-week class for worship leading in which I led a new band & sang a solo at our recital/graduation. That was also a step of Adventurous Bravery... I was nervous even though I've sung in front of people before, Lol. We also started praying for the campus (LBCC) over the summer. CSULB, me, some LBCC folks, and either Beau or Sean would be there and we would pray and worship, asking God to fill the campus!

July was a big mix of emotions! I house sat a lot during this time & made some conscious decisions to protect my heart and focus on Jesus... and the enemy was not happy. Although I knew I was doing the right thing, my heart was hurting. I worked through a lot with God and had some good quality time with our youth girls! We also had our annual GAN (Girls All Nighter)... which was a HIT! So many girls! So much energy! So much FUN!

August... I believe this was around the time that we found out that my sister was pregnant! I also started my second year of college and my first semester in Music. I auditioned for multiple things, not making a single one of them. I got down on my self for a bit, but God reminded me that this was a year of Adventurous Bravery... not the year to get everything I want. I ALSO saw my childhood best friend in this month! It was AWESOME!

In addition to that awesome experience, it was the FIRST time we took our youth group to camp since I had been there! I was able to speak at the camp, lead worship, lead a small group of girls, and meet my soul sister!

Time went on, I started classes... some of our AWESOME youth got baptized, I made some really get friends in the music department...

Then September hit! Lots of work! We had an Activities Fair for all the clubs at LBCC, and we were able to set up a tent and be a part of it! I went to IGNITE, InterVarsity's 1-day training conference in the Fall. That's where everyone learned my secret dance move... The Gazelle...

If you haven't already noticed, I really like to embarrass myself! Lol.

Any who, in September MORE awesome youth got baptized!

October, I went to Catalina for InterVarsity's FALL CON. It was quite a sight to behold. I still can't believe what I saw!

This month was also filled with lots of challenges. My grandfather passed away. I had a lot to think about and a lot to work through in this month. God was faithful and kept His promises to never leave me & to comfort the broken hearted.

Later on in the month, I had the INCREDIBLE opportunity to lead my youth girls in being a part of our church's ROAR Conference. This conference was hard for me, but I was refilled by seeing their wonderful faces learning each day! They also came to my workshop that I was teaching (aww!) & I was so blessed by that.

Right before Halloween something pretty cool happened. I got a call from one of our worship directors asking if I was free to do a gig.... with Third Day. I was so excited!

Then, for Halloween our church did a community outreach event which was super cool! Our youth group also had a party & I cam as the Pink Power Ranger while another one of our mentors came as.... well, me.See for yourself.

In November, I learned I could play lead on electric guitar. That was fun! We also formed a really cool band at school. A lot of InterVarsity peeps are music majors so we decided to jam a few times & recorded one of the member's songs! Again, some more really awesome people got baptized this month! I also used this Adventurous Bravery that I've been learning to stop being afraid of recording myself when I'm singing so here's a 1-shot vid of something we whipped up last min!

December, I don't even remember what happened! There was so much going on! School ended, I had my first real school recital...

We had a talent show at our church where I sang with a friend of mine "Desert Song" from Hillsong, and then my sister & I did "No Longer Slaves" from Bethel... AND she sang a SOLO part!! :) 

From Christmas, to New Years... there were things left & right to do!

In summation, this year was fun. It was a good year. There was lots of crying and growing and hurting, but there was also lots of laughing and empowering and lessons learned! I found a stronger focus on Jesus, a braver spirit, and a more content heart. I have prayed more times this year than ever, "Even if I'm alone, I will follow You." The bravest thing I did this year was pray that prayer. Sometimes Adventurous Bravery looks like hikes and first dates and mission trips to India... but sometimes it looks like prayers, tears, standing up for yourself, and auditioning for a program that you don't get into. And that's okay, because the adventures that God has caused me to be Brave for have changed my life.

2016

The Year of....

Victorious Faith!

I didn't think this sounded very cool at first. Definitely not as cool as Adventurous Bravery in my mind. But then God asked me, "What are you anticipating me to do this year?"

I had to stop and think because my first inclination for my theme was Courageous Faith... along the lines of 2015... but when I felt God ask that question all I could think of were victories I hope to have.. chains I hope to break... and the posture of my life. I don't want to be timid. I want to overcome! So here's to a year of victories! Here's to a year of faith that God can do what He promises to do! He CAN heal broken relationships. He CAN do the impossible. He CAN bring me to places I never would have thought possible before. And I'm believing for that this year... with no expectations of where He'll bring me, which relationships He'll fix, or which Impossible Things that He'll accomplish in front of me. I'm with Him all that way no matter what!

"The year of Victorious Faith. Where no matter what, I will follow You as I move from Timid to Victorious!"

HAPPY NEW YEAR FOLKS! 

What is your year's theme?

UYWI DISCIPLESHIP TOOLKIT

This is one of our Favorite Free tools for small Groups and training in Discipleship for Youth Ministry. Larry Acosta CEO and founder of Uywi.org, does an incredible work of equipping Urban Youth Workers across the Nation, and this completely free 36 lesson study takes students from the Basic Foundations of Christian beliefs all the way to Defending their Faith. 

We have used this Resource to help us grow small groups within our youth ministry and to rapidly starts new groups lead by both students and teachers on High School and College Campuses. 

All you have to do is go to the website http://thediscipleshiptoolkit.com/, click join, and now you have access. This includes 36 Videos, Student Talk Sheets, and Leader Guides. Don't let you skepticism hold you back from revolutionizing the life of your Youth Group. Not only has this worked for us, but Urban Youth Workers across the Nation are implementing the use of the Toolkit with incredible results! 

STEPPING INTO A NEW YEAR

From Seanafenner.com 

3 Ways to Elevate your Game in 2016

2 Peter 1:5-105 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. 8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins. 10 So, dear brothers and sisters,[a] work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away.

The Christian life is about Direction not Perfection and Here are three actions and attitudes that I believe God can use to center our lives as we move into all this has for us this coming year.

1. Practice & Train – Our habits determine our performance

On January 15 2009 shortly after his plane took off from LaGuardia Airport Captain Chelsey Sullenberg report to air traffic control that the twin engines of his jet had shut down after sucking in an entire flock of birds. The plane was going to crash; it was just a matter of where and when. Could he return to the airport? Could he land the plane at the nearest airport over 12 miles away in New Jersey? Captain Sully quickly decided that the best option to land his plane and save the lives of his passengers was to land in the Hudson River below. The Captain calmly announced to his passengers to brace for the impact of a crash landing, and then proceeded to land his plane in the river. The engines were producing zero thrust, and the passengers recalled the silence before hitting the water. After the plane hit, all 155 passengers were evacuated, and captain sully stayed on the sinking plane walking it over 2 times to make sure that every passenger had been evacuated. Every single passenger and crew member survived the incident. After this event the biggest question on everyone’s mind was 

HOW DID THE CAPTAIN MAKE SUCH A WISE DECISION UNDER A MOMENT OF SUCH GREAT CATASTROPHE?

Captain Sully summed it up in an interview on national television by saying this I’ve been making small regular decisions every day of my piloting, that have been deposited into the bank of my experience, education, and training. And on the day that plane went down the there was a large balance in my bank account, so I could make a huge withdrawal when I had to figure out how to safely land that plane. The defining moment of his life wasn’t a one minute decision, but the instinct of a person who had given their life to practicing wise decisions.Warren Wiersbe once said “a faith that can’t be tested, can’t be trusted”Are we practicing those small wise daily decision, so that we can make that large withdrawal when catastrophe hits our lives?

We practice and Train through Spiritual Disciples

Disciplines of Abstaining

Ways of denying ourselves something we want or need in order to make space to focus and connect with God.Solitude, Silence, Sabbath, Submission, Fasting

Disciplines of Engaging

Ways of connecting with God and other peopleBible Reading, Worship, Prayer, Fellowship, Reflection, ServiceLife is 10% what happens to you and 90% the way you respond to it

2000yrs ago one the first Christian leaders, Paul gave this advice “Forgetting what is behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.” in Philippians 3:13-14 that advice from God’s Word has stood the test of time.

2. Get off the Bench and into the game

John Wesley averaged three sermons a day for fifty-four years. In his work of Evangelism he traveled by horseback more than 200,000 miles. His published works include a four-volume commentary on the entire Bible, a four Volume work on the history of the church, six books on church music, and seven volumes of Sermons. He also edited a set of fifty books known as the Christian Library. He was greatly devoted to his work never waking later than 4am and seldom concluding his work before 10pm. See John Wesley knew that warming up the pine (or sitting on the bench) meant that if he was not in the game God was going to use someone else. By sitting on the sideline we are asking God to pass us up, we have get in the game and play the position God had appointed for us.We all have a position to play in the Kingdom of God, and we should be walking by our strengths and spiritual gifts not someone else’s

The things that kept you out of the game in 2015 don’t have to keep you out in 2016 We determine our effort, no matter what happens it’s always our choice to play You have to be present and make an effort to experience a miracle. Miracles don’t happen when we are not present!

3. Stay Focused - Don't let the opposition distract you

The Bible describes the opposition like this: 2 Corinthians 11 A serpent trying to deceive God’s People John 10 a wolf trying to defeat God’s flock 1 Peter a lion trying to devour God’s children

The enemy has already been defeated, but he wants you to think that there’s still time on the clock.  He will hit you with any obstacle to hold you back you from God’s will to elevate your life Health, Finances, Relationships, whatever. But in the midst of these trials remember this about the enemy: The Devil is not in the first two chapters of the Bible, and he’s definitely not in the last two chapters!

It’s like one my favorite sweatshirts says; Jesus beat the devil, with a big ugly stick!!! The enemy has been defeated and we have the victory, through what Christ accomplished for us on cross.

Faith without Trails is an empty promise to God

We can Practice, We can get into the Game, and we can stay focused, but we only win when God is directing the plays.

I’m reminded of the story of a young child that was playing in a sandbox. After digging around he hit something hard with his toy shovel, and began to uncover a large rock almost as big a he was. He sat for a moment and realized that a large rock had no place in a sandbox, so he began to dig it out. After the entire rock was uncovered, he began to leverage his weight against it to push it to the edge of the sandbox. After about 15 minutes of struggle to get the large rock to the edge, he realized that he would not be able to lift the rock over the large lip on rim of the sandbox. Out of options and now extremely frustrated, he began to cry thinking that he would never be able to accomplish this enormous task. After a few minutes his father who was washing dishes in the kitchen sink looked out the kitchen window and realized that his son was crying in frustration. The father dried his hands and walked out the backyard approaching the sandbox. He looked down at his son and asked “son why are you crying”. The son began to explain that the rock did not belong in the sandbox, and there is no way that he would be able to get it out. The dad listened, and when his son finished he asked, “well son did you use all of your strength”. The son replied “of course I used all my strength, every ounce of it”. Then the father reached down and picked up the rock and set it just outside the sandbox, and he looked up at his son and said “NO SON. You didn't use all of your strength, because you never asked me to help you with my strength.

Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help- in trouble”See the young boy practiced his digging, He realized that the rock wasn't going to move itself, and he was focused on getting the rock out of the sandbox. But the final portion of the equation was that he had to rely on strength greater than his own to finish the task.

GOD is our COACH directing the Plays We can Practice and Train, Get off the Bench, and Stay Focused, but the only way to win in life is to allow God to direct us every step of the way