Many of you know from attending our conferences and being familiar with Dare 2 Share that we have a great partnership with interlinc. They stand alone as the music and media resource for you, Youth Leaders. They are offering a one-time FREE download of the latest YLO Book. Dare 2 Share wanted to make sure that you had the opportunity to take advantage of this no-strings attached offer. Did I mention it’s totally FREE?!?!?! Check out the download.

Click here!

Here’s to reaching teenagers with the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we work togther: Dare 2 Share, Youth Leader and interlinc!

It is the quest to save the lost,
To rescue them from sin,
By sharing Jesus with those we know
So new life can begin.

Every second one person dies,
And most end up in the flames,
Forever suffering for their sins,
Racked with guilt and shame.

But their shame is ours to share
If we’ve never schemed
To reach them with the gospel,
And see their souls redeemed.

We bide our time ’til it’s too late,
We wait until they’re old.
But often by this time of life,
Their souls are dark and cold.

We must reach them while they’re young,
Unencumbered by life’s pain.
More open to the Gospel truth,
Less hardened by the strain.

We must mobilize Christian teens
To reach out to their friends
And multiply the kingdom impact
For the Lord’s own ends.

Young and old wait in the balance,
Hovering between heaven and hell.
Will you do what you can do
To make a difference now?

THE Cause it waits in silence
For you to seize the day,
To mobilize a generation
To show their friends the Way.

Are you ready to help teenagers you know “live above” the fray?

There. I threw down the schoolyard gauntlet. So check it out or I’ll meet you at the flagpole after school. On second thought…no I won’t. I’m 43 years old now and could break a hip. Just listen to the podcast or I’ll make more idle threats and taunt you without mercy for the glory of God.

Until they embrace His personal cause they miss the point of all their theological training and lifestyle choices: to glorify God by exponentially advancing the kingdom of God in their circle of influence. Jesus Himself said that His purpose was to “seek and save what was lost.” In other words, discipleship means more than helping teenagers adopt the theology and characteristics of Christ but His cause as well.

Behind each of His powerful miracles, simple parables, gentle touches and scathing rebukes was a heart that beat, burned and broke for those who were lost. His unparalleled passion to rescue the perishing transferred in full force to His disciples. The book of Acts is proof of this. Since the time He walked the earth until now every great spiritual awakening has reverberated with prayer, personal holiness and His unchanging cause as it’s evangelistic epicenter.

If we want our youth ministries to experience true revival that echoes the great awakenings of old, then evangelism must be more than a casual outcome of our discipleship strategies. It must be the driving force behind them.

Imagine yourself as an incoming college freshman. You are filled with excitement and anxiety as you register for your first classes as an official college student. The apartment you are staying in is just off campus. Rent split four ways is not too bad and one of the guys you knew in high school. Your buddy Brock is a now a fully situated and socially connected sophomore who has promised to show you the ropes (and some girls!)

Your conservative parents aren’t super worried about your off campus situation. They knew the kid and his parents. Good people. Good kid. Good start.

Monday Anticipation After driving the six hours from home, your mom calling you every hour on the hour to check on you, your rusty, dusty Corolla pulls up to your new digs. Orientation doesn’t start until Tuesday so you use the rest of the late afternoon/evening to get settled into your living situation. With an oversized green canvas duffle bag draped over your shoulder, you make your way up the cracked concrete to your very own home away from home. You knock on the door of the apartment and as you do it swings open quickly. Your friend has been waiting.

Before you can even dump your gear this “good Christian kid” is bragging about how he scored you an invite to the frat house party that Friday night. “What’s that?” you think. Anticipating your unblurted question he begins to explain, “To get invited to a frat party is a big deal. I became buddies with one of the football players last year and now he rules the roost at Alpha Beta Kai. They are throwing a blow out this weekend and we are going to be right in the middle of it.”

As he talks you don’t want to seem like a prude. So you just say, “Oh, that’s great.” Anyway, that’s still days away. You have some time to figure out what to do.

Tuesday Orientation Bad start. You slept in until noon. Your orientation doesn’t start until 6pm but you should have gotten up earlier. But after setting up your room, going out for pizza with Brock and staying up until 2am just catching up with him, you couldn’t help yourself.

You decide to take a walk across campus. As you do you are blown away. This university is beautiful. Many of the buildings were erected in the late 40’s, back when craftsmanship mattered. And it’s not just the buildings that are beautiful. You are blown away by the girls. You are almost embarrassed to walk by them on the broad cobblestone sidewalks. Blonde seems to be the school color and giggles must be the school song. In the words of Brock, “the hotties are really hot here.”

After self-touring you grab a sandwich and head off to the auditorium for the Freshman orientation. The two thousand seat auditorium is packed. Three hours of introductions and directions combined with endless “hints and tips for a great freshman year” leave you reeling. But you can’t wait.

Lights out at 11pm tonight. It all begins tomorrow.

Wednesday…Disorientation Your first college class happens to be “Introduction to Philosophy.” You can’t wait. As you make your way into the room you are in awe at how big it is. This is not like high school. You could put three hundred students in this mini-auditorium easy. You find an unassuming seat in the middle of the room, drop your backpack and take out a spiral notebook and a pen, ready to take some notes.

The long haired, spectacled professor who looks like a walking tribute to the seventies, comes rushing in and mumbles “Welcome to philosophy 101.” The students, some of whom are still finding their ways to their seats and many of whom are still talking, seem to barely notice him. So he screams at the top of his lungs, “I SAID, ‘WELCOME TO PHILOSOPHY 101!!!” That quiets the crowd and everybody settles into their seats.

Without a book on his desk or a paper in his hands, this funky looking fifty something professor begins spouting and touting the benefits of philosophy. His monologue is laced with quotes from Thoreau, Voltaire, Hume and a bunch of other old school philosophers. But far from being dry and dusty, this guy is funny, quirky funny, but funny nonetheless. Within ten minutes every freshman is riveted and fully engaged. Within twenty minutes every student around you knows this is going to be a great class. And you are all deeply impressed that this professor is going without a net, no notes, no cheat sheets, no nothing. He has obviously been honing this monologue for years, working out the kinks on thousands of other college freshman in previous classes.

You are excited. But that’s when he asks the crowd an unexpected question. Out of the blue he asks,

“How many of you believe in God?”

Without thinking you raise your hand before anybody else. And before you realize that your hand is the only one up, his eyes focus on you and he asks the question, “Why?”

You’re now in the center of the spotlight you were hoping to avoid. The only words that find their way to your trembling lips are “uhhh, ummm, I don’t know.”

He jumps on your hesitation like a dog on red meat, “Since you don’t know let me tell you why you believe in God. Because your parents believe in God and their parents believed in God. Belief in some kind of Supreme Being is a mental crutch, a poor man’s way of explaining the mysteries of the universe and life. My goal in this classroom is break that crutch, dismantle your narrow faith and open your closed mind to the possibilities of a universe without God, without reasons and without crutches.”

You are bright pink with embarrassment. You can feel the blood in your ears and are kicking yourself for raising your hand so quickly. But these adrenaline induced emotions quickly fade as another kid raises his hand, stands to his feet and says, “Well, I know why I believe in God and my faith is not some mental crutch.”

All of a sudden the spotlight shifts to this guy and you are relieved. But you are also impressed. This fellow freshman has got a lot of guts to call out a tenured professor his first day of school.

The professor smiled as if he knew what was about to unfold. Like two gunslingers facing off each other the two stood silent for a moment. But the professor’s gun was bigger and he was much faster. Before the kid could get his brain out of his holster the prof had filled his Christian courage full of hot logic lead. Midway through this mental massacre, the kid slumped back and dropped into his chair, while his mortally wounded belief system lay in a philosophical pool of blood and mud.

Nobody ever challenged this teacher again the whole semester.

With the Christian kids now thoroughly humiliated this “open minded” professor proceeds to dismantle every belief that you ever held dear, the existence of God, the reliability of the Bible, the deity of Jesus…everything. In the last ten minutes of class he stops the assault and starts sharing his philosophical reconstruction of his godless universe. What really starts scaring you is that this guy is making sense. As class is dismissed you are fighting the urge to even consider what he is saying as the truth. If he were right then everything you’ve always believed about everything is wrong.

Ah well, tomorrows another day.

Thursday…Operation Accommodation O.K. you are going to have to deal with this stuff. This is a secular university not a Christian one. And the word “secular” means “without God” or something like that anyway. You can’t expect every prof in every class to believe what you believe. Surely in your next round of classes you’ll find a bosom buddy of a Christian teacher. You don’t. From Biology to ethics to sociology 101 you hear more of the same stuff repackaged.

Some classes are great and others are boring as Sunday school, but every one of them is filled with hot Freshman girls so you’ll find a way to get through.

Friday…The “Pepsi” Party “Tonight’s the night loser!” Brock yells in your ear as you jump straight out of bed in your skivvies. Rubbing the sleep from your eyes you yell back, “What?!”

“Tonight is the party. It starts at 8pm and we’re going to be front and center. Be back and ready to go no later than 7:30. Got it?”

You nod yes just to get him out of your room. After washing your face you realize what you just committed to and immediately regret it.

But just because you go to a party doesn’t mean you have to drink or do drugs right? Right! You stood the test (mostly) in high school. You can do it again. But at 8pm that night you realize that this is not high school, not even close. You’re not in Kansas anymore and Toto (the guy who greets you at the Frat door) is already stoned.

The yard and frat house is booming and brimming with guys, girls and paper cups filled with “Pepsi” because in the words of Brock “we all know that it is illegal for us minors to drink liquor” (wink, wink, nudge, nudge.)

You are feeling uncomfortable and out of place. But then you see her and she sees you. Tina was the hottest girl in your high school. She wouldn’t give you the time of day just four months ago but now she almost runs to talk to you (she must feel out of place too.)

By the way she acted around you in high school you wouldn’t know she knew more than four words, but now she is a non-stop chatter box. After all the how are you’s, and how are you liking schools and stuff she begins to open up. She feels exactly the same way about you. Before you know it Brock has dropped a paper cup full of that “Pepsi” into both of your hands. At first you don’t drink, but you get so sucked into the conversation, that before you can stop yourself you take a quick sip. It is Pepsi…and a little something something.

Five cups later you are making out with the hottest girl in your high school.

Five hours later you are out.

And ten hours later.

Saturday…Regret and a killer headache

At 2pm you wake up with a pounding head and a guilty conscience. You don’t know how you got back to your own bed. You just know that you messed up…bad. If mom or dad ever found out they’d kill you.

But who’s going to tell them…Brock? Vegas and college have something in common. What happens there stays there.

And, after all, tomorrow’s another day. Oh yeah, it’s Sunday. Church? Just sleep in, get your head together and try again next week.

And so the downward spiral begins. No wonder 70% walk away from their faith after they graduate from high school.

You have a friend.

You have a foe.

You have a family.

Prepare now to help your teenagers keep the faith in college:

Prepare! Make sure your teens know what they believe, why they believe and that they believe. Train them to know and live the core truths of Christianity. Sign them up for Soul Fuel (free training devo that deals with the basics of the Christian belief system in a powerful and relevant way on www.dare2share.org) so that you both can talk about it weekly.

Recommended Reading: The University of Destruction by David Wheaton

Discover! Find out what Christian college groups are meeting at the university your teenager is going. Campus Crusade, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and/or other Christian college based ministries meet regularly on virtually every secular university across the US. Find out what’s on the campus you plan on sending your college student off to.

Talk! Talk with your teenager about the temptations that await them. And, if you are suspicious that your teenager won’t be able to withstand the onslaught, consider sending them to a solid Christian college. The odds go way, way up for long term commitment to Jesus Christ in a thriving Christian setting.

*This article is a touched up “Stier Straight” article I wrote a few years ago.

Do it and your rewards in heaven will multiply…maybe. Don’t do it and may the fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits. Okay, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t give nomadic-type threats (or empty promises for that matter) But would you please just fill out his survey? It will give us some much needed intelligence (insert sarcastic joke here) as we move more and more toward our mission of “Mobilizing teenagers to relationally and relentlessly reach their generation for Christ.”

While you are there you may want to surf around a bit. Jason’s a really good guy with a pretty cool blog.

There are two primary kinds of UFO hunters in the youth leader realm. The first kind is the well meaning but immensely distracted youth leader. These are the youth leaders who are all about the next new thing. They speed across the landscape with binoculars and a camcorder looking desperately for the latest, greatest youth ministry gadget, toy, curriculum, game, application, skit, etc. Their youth group is full of dizzy teenagers who are in the 4 by 4 with them as they speed across the ministry landscape. They don’t know where they are headed but are making and having a great time.

This kind of UFO hunter doesn’t really have a speed other than light. They walk the exhibit floors at ministry conventions wondering which curriculum, confenerence or camp will take their teens to warp speed on a spiritual level.

Dont’ get me wrong. These youth leaders love their teens and love their jobs but they have no real plan or path other than new and next. While many of their youth ministries may look healthy on the outside (smiles and growing numbers) there is generally no depth or direction. Both spiritual and numerical attrition becomes a problem over the long haul. As their teenagers figure out that the youth leader is not really leading them but rather driving them in circles looking for UFOs they begin to drop off and out. They have many other things that they can be distracted by themselves that, quite honestly, are a lot more fun. Oftentimes these youth leaders are too busy to stop and take a look to really see what is happening to their teenagers.

The second type of UFO hunter in youth ministry is a strange combination of smart and geeky. Many of them write books and/or blogs about what it’s really like on the inside of this non-linear hover craft of ultra relevant youth ministry. The problem is that their supposed “abduction” was most likely a hallucination brought on by too much postmodern idealism and not enough Biblical theology.

These UFO hunting trekkies start clubs and share notes on their latest theories concerning the spiritual realm in Episode 13 of, well, whatever. They tend to dress alike, but instead of Spock ears and form fitting shirts it’s goatees and dark rimmed glasses.

Many of these UFO hunters are genuinely brilliant and some have some rather penetrating insights. But most of them have a flawed premise. They think they are chasing something that is actual. But instead they are chasing a speck on the lenses of their binoculars. They are tracking a phantom who doesn’t exist flying a craft that isn’t there for a cause that makes no eternal difference.

Generally speaking the first kind of UFO hunter is well meaning and the second kind is well educated. But both are distracted by their Area 51 approach to all things youth ministry.

Youth ministry doesn’t need another UFO to chase but the original “BFO” to accomplish. What is a BFO? It is a “Blinding Flash of the Obvious”. Jesus gave His disciples the biggest one of all time when He told them to “Go and make disciples of all nations….” This baton, called by some “the Great Commission,” has been handed down through the centuries to you and to me. And we are compelled to be handing it off to our teenagers.

Instead of doing the grunt work of what Jesus called us to do we can just go out and buy a new youth group curriculum. We console ourselves with the thought that “Maybe the outlines and interactive questions in this one will be the ones that push our teenagers toward Jesus once and for all.” But they won’t be. There is no magic curriculum. There are no UFOs. And Bigfoot doesn’t exist.

Sure we could spend our time sitting around and theorizing about the intricasies of disciple making in a postmodern culture. We cold focus on all the roadblocks we have standing in our way and develop theories that explore our shared grief at this multi-tasking, media-satured culture that is too busy for Jesus and too UnChristian for the church. We can lick our wounds, propose a theory, rinse and repeat.

But there’s a third option. We can do something about it. We can actually put our hand to the plow and, well, plow.

To be honest it is a lot easier to chase down the latest new curriculum or theory than it is to actually make a disciple of a teenager. Sure postmodern teenagers have a different set of problems, challenges and spiritual perspectives than the teens of a generation ago. Yes, books and blogs and theories are needed to reach them. But, at the end of the day, they are still teenagers. They need love and care. They need grace and truth. They need Jesus. And we must get Jesus to them. Then, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we must equip them to get Jesus to all their friends.

Please don’t get me wrong. I am fully convinced that we have to be aware of the culture we are ministering in and to. Like effective missionaries we must study this culture so that we can effectively know how to make a difference. But if you’ve ever heard the phrase “paralysis by analysis” you’ll know that all theory and no practice makes Jack an ineffective boy. We must learn on the fly and on our knees with prayer and duct tape as we reach out to make disciples of the next generation. We must study up so that we can work it out. And the book we must study the most is the Word of God. The Bible gives us the basic instructions of making a disciple of anyone, anywhere, anytime. Nobody will ever be able to improve upon Scripture as the ultimate youth ministry manual.

This process is not easy and, sometimes, not fun. Give me a camcorder, a slushee and a roadmap to Roswell before you give me the manual labor of disciple making. But the heavy lifting must be done. It’s a lot more fun to get beamed up than it is to buckle down.

So youth leader my challenge to you is to avoid the UFOs and embrace your God given BFO. Your teens will live like aliens on this panet as a result. And, who knows? Maybe their friends will hunt them down to find out why their lives are so different.

Check out our little 4 minute segment here…