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8 Comments for 'Ministry Mutiny – What principles am I missing, get wrong, understate or overstate?'

1. On October 2, 2006 @ 7:14 am Becky said:

   • Spiffyness.

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2. On January 5, 2007 @ 6:59 pm Jeff Mashaw said:

   • First of all I wanted to start by saying that this was the most amazing book I have ever read. It inspired me to truly evaluate my youth group and to start praying that God would make me a much more effective youth leader. I was amazed at how much of what you wrote impacted me personally. How simple and biblical yet radical the six points are. So I thank God for your personal ministry and I try everyday to make my ministry more like Tony’s in the book. There has been one thing that God has put on my heart since reading your book, and I feel like it was an omission. I was reading through 1Corinthians and I started studying chapter 13, the love chapter. And I started asking God how I could apply that chapter toward my ministry and I went through the list of what love was and decided that each one of those was important. And then I prayed a little and realized that the number one way I could show love for the youth in my ministry was to pray for them. Not just for "the youth" but to list each one on a sheet of paper and to list their needs and then to pray for them each individually. There is a great need to reach out to the youth in this generation and I feel that God has given us a great responsibility. But I think very often we as youth leaders forget the awesome power of God. God calls each of us to action but much as you wrote in the book about listening for the whisper, we need to also seek out God’s power on behalf of every student whom we wish to minister. I pray that God will touch other ministries with your book as he touched me and mine. I pray that you continue and that God blesses you in everything. I also hope that many others can come to faith in Jesus through you and your work. Thanks, Jeff Mashaw 

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3. On January 5, 2007 @ 8:37 pm Greg said:

   • Good call Jeff! You are right!

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4. On July 5, 2007 @ 9:46 am Jon Richey said:

   • There were many principles I really appreciated as I read this book. "Listening to God’s Whisper" was especially encouraging. How often do we not take time to "Be Still and Know that He is God" as the Psalmist said. Our busyness has been our greatest sin. I was also challenged by the chapter "No More Outsourcing". I find myself being too much of a coward when it comes to working with our teens parents. Parents need to be involved in their children’s spiritual lives. They will always make the greater impact. There were times when I found myself relating to "Ty" and the ministry struggles he encountered. At the same time, I found some areas in the book where I tend to be a little critical. In the chapter called "Go Wide" there was a comment stating there is no place in scripture where the disciples "Earned the right to be heard". Yet, when I read Acts and some of the Epistles, I hear Paul making statements about the culture where he was ministering. For example, in Acts 17 when Paul was at Mars Hill he states, "Even some of your own (pagan) poets have said ‘we are his offspring’". Paul obviously knew the culture and the people, otherwise he would not have known to make an "apologetic" statement about their pagan religion. He did the same thing in writing to the church in Crete about their "pagan" prophets. Although, I do agree we should be up front and real about our faith in Christ when we meet people. Yet, I do not feel right about immediately "preaching" Christ to someone I just met as was suggested in the book.  I appreciate much of what is stated in the chapter "No More Fads". There are timeless truths in scripture that have never changed, nor were they intended to change. I also appreciate the comments made about "church movements" and how people tend to "rebel" against the complacency of many existing churches and how they run ministry. I know our church culture has a tendency to let the pendulum swing too far in reacting to the frustrations of what once was. I had a professor in Seminary who said, "All theolgy is reactionary!". This is so true. Yet, I felt like their was a slight attack on the Emergent Church claiming "they" (whoever they are, Rob Bell? Brian McLaren? Donald Miller? I don’t know!) have made statements saying we can never know "for sure" what truth is. Even though I agree we need to be careful to discern all of any kind of theological or church movement, I believe this statement was misrepresented. The passage in Hebrews used in this chapter to refute this was from Hebrews 12 where it says, "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Yet most of the emergent church advocates would say it is their faith that makes them sure, not absolute science — because science cannot prove God’s existence. We cannot see God with our own eyes so we do not base truth on that, but on our faith. Most all of the emergent church advocates would say they are absolutely certain God is real and Jesus is the way, truth and life. However it is based on their absolute faith in who Jesus is, what he said, did, is doing, and what is written about him in accordance with the whole of scripture.   Yes, we need to think critically about any movement whether it be the emergent church, seeker-sensitive, etc… I have read many books by many of the emergent church people. I would be lying if I said I agree with everything I have read. We just have to be careful to understand what is really being said before we make a statement or write a book about a claim that really isn’t a claim.  I am thankful for the opportunity to read "Ministry Mutiny". It does help put balance and perspective into ministry, especially in a day when ministers are pulled in a variety of different directions. There are some great thoughts and Biblical truth in the book. Thanks,  Jon Richey

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5. On July 8, 2008 @ 4:05 pm Stephanie Adams said:

   • Hi Greg,

     About 3-4 weeks ago, I met you in a Starbucks. It was the highlight of my week, concidering you are totally my hero. I promise I am not a stalker, but really I appreciate everything you do. Anyways, I have to tell you, your visit was no accident. My youth group has been stale for awhile now. It’s a small group that is very comfortable in their zone, and not excited about sharing that zone with anyone else! During your visit you gave me the book Ministry Mutiny. Originally, you intended to give me your new book, but you were all out— again, no accident. I had recently been struggling in my group. I was disappointed. My kids seemed knowledgable about the Lord and scripture, but very unsure about their relationship with the Lord and what they were supposed to do as followers of Christ. It was like they had no confidence in themselves or the Lord. I was praying for something to change and definately doubted my ministry. Your book was such a blessing. I have no background in ministry, I was kinda nominated by the council at our church when we were in need of a youth director. I have had no formal training and have been flying by the seat of my pants with God’s help for the last 2 years. I have been able to impact my kids on an amazing level, but I truely believe, again, only with God’s help. I was really missing structure and stability in my ministry and our time together was starting to turn into game/social night everytime we met. This did nothing to Glorify God or further His Kingdom. Your book has become an amazing tool and I am truely thankful for it. I have started implementing things from it and I can already see a difference. I am so excited about what the future of my group holds and what the Lord has in store for us. I just wanted to tell you my story so you know how much the Lord is using you to do good things. Thank you and God Bless

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6. On July 9, 2008 @ 10:26 am Greg said:

   • Praise God Stephanie. That is awesome! Be sure to check out http://www.dare2share.org and use all the free resources that we offer (soul fuel, SF youth leader curriculum, etc) My prayer is that God will bless and expand your ministry to deeper and wider levels for his glory!

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7. On October 23, 2009 @ 11:24 am Evan said:

   • I am normally very hesitant to simply pick up a book, read it, and suddenly think I have to change the whole structure of something. In fact the only reason why I picked this book up is because I listened to Greg at a youth leaders meeting in Columbus and after he shared his true heart for students without gimmicks or simply trying to sell me something I decided to check some of his books out. My natural tendency is to critically examine and sometimes that might lead to a little bit of cynicism and pride in which the Lord has been working with me along those lines. The one thing I really appreciate about the book when it comes to changing youth ministry is that it is less about methodology although, there are some little thoughts here and there about it and more about basic principles. Each chapter is a principle that you can take and make it your own for your youth group. Many of these principles I’ve been thinking about on my own before I even read the book. One thing that might have been overlooked but was kind of mentioned throughout the “no more outsourcing” chapter was plugging teens into the adult world. I know that’s part of the parents job as well but many youth groups end up being a separate church in and of itself. I think many students feel out of place when they come back after college and attend church because they never really were plugged into the rest of the church and they can’t go back to youth group. I agree that to some extent we should have a sense of closeness and fellowship as youth group but at the same time something that might be missing in some churches is unity between the adults and the youth. As a youth pastor I don’t feel like my job is to create another church of teens that happens to meet in the same building as the adults but to truly plug students with their spiritual gifts and abilities into the full body of Christ and not just the youth group. Maybe it starts with using them in the youth group but my hope and prayer is to plug them into the inner workings of the full body.

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8. On July 6, 2010 @ 4:04 pm gregstier.org » Ministry Mutiny Principle 2 – Get Real said:

   • [...] What principles did I miss, get wrong, understate or overstate? 4 Comments [...]

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