Category Archives: Discipleship

Terrace Crawford Youth Worker Coaching Network

Interview With Terrace Crawford

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Yesterday, we were given the opportunity to interview Terrace Crawford, unfortunately due to Internet outaegs, we were not able to share that with you over Google+ Hangout. But below is an interview with him about new opportunities with hi coaching network.

I wanted to say this up front before the interview. I want to highly endorse both Terrace as well as the concept of joining a coaching network. We need to be life-long learners and there is no better youth worker alive to learn from than him. His wisdom is always practical and constructive. If you have not considered joining, do so!

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Rethinking Discipleship : Relational Discipleship

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Over the past three weeks, I have shared a how-to for “Writing A WordPress Plugin” series with readers who are curious on who to approach creating something for their website. While it is fun being creative and using both sides of my brain for this task, the real project served a much different purpose. The past two months, I have met up with a student from my youth group, teaching him how to program this WordPress plugin.

The past year has been hard for him. He has had to make some decisions that were contrary to what his mother wanted him to make and he stood up for what he believed was right. Because of this, he has lived on his own and struggling through school. So I kicked up a relationship with and found out that he wants to go get a degree in programming to make video games. My undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering has since come in handy.

While he is probably loving the new skills that I am teaching him, in the back of my mind are the questions that I want to ask:

  • How is school going?
  • Have you talked to your mom lately?
  • What’s going on this weekend?
  • Anything tough going on right now?
  • Need to vent about anything?
  • Are you getting enough sleep and eating three square meals?
  • How are you doing to get into that college?

So, I hope that these skills get him into college or get him a job on campus or simply get him a free meal at McDonald’s while I teach him a bit about making a WordPress. There is no “spiritual” talk or have you read the Bible now. Instead, I am building the relationship with him, hearing his heart on some of the probing questions, and just hanging out with him.

So how do you approach relational discipleship?

Draft Of Reworking Discipleship

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As we reviewed Tuesday, the cookie cutter discipleship program did not work for us. We wanted to create an environment with the volunteer walking along the journey with the students to live life with them and support the students as they go deeper in their faith.

The Problem
Working in a military environment, students do not stay in one spot for more than three years, so deep conversations are sometimes hard to come by and authentic discipleship needs to be explicitly expressed to the students immediately. The volunteers are trained, but how do we set up the relationships with the students? Without the discipleships being authentic, there is no trust or going deep.

A Possible Solution
At the present time, the scope of the involvement for the disciples is to be just prepping and meeting with a single disciple. But we need to set up relationships before that first meeting. So:

  • The first four months of youth group, the disciples will be involved in events weekly. No discipleships with students and no defined responsibilities at youth group. For all we care, they could be great crowd control or they can lead all the games.
  • The second four months, we pair them up with students that want to be in a discipleship.

Avoiding Cookie-Cutter Discipleship

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Yesterday, we posted the idea of rethinking discipleship and how Jesus saw it. Today, we wanted to share what led us to this decision and why cookie-cutter discipleship can cause youth ministries to fail to go deep.

We assumed students would relate. Youth ministry is running well at USAFA Club Beyond. We are impacting a lost group of military teens and sharing life with everyone. The problem came when we added new volunteers to specifically do discipleship with teens that wanted to go deep but who had never interacted with students. The concept of discipleship itself is not wrong so there is nothing to change with that. It is all about the delivery. We need to foster relationships with these volunteers before the students even know they want to be in a discipleship.

Getting rid of the cookie-cutter volunteer model. In many circles, setting up a discipleship looks the same way. The equation:

Find a willing volunteer + training + willing student + going deeper + living life together= discipleship

Four-fifths of that is beautiful. The part of the equation we are rethinking is the living life together. We do not want anything to seem fake, artificial or forced. Unfortunately for volunteers and leaders, it means a longer and deeper commitment on their part.

Tomorrow I will share with you our first draft of the plan and would love to get your comments.

Rethinking Discipleship

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A couple of weeks ago USAFA Club Beyond had our last monthly volunteer training for the school year and we processed the year. One thing that came out is that the “cookie cutter” model of discipleship will not work at our youth group. So this week we will take a look at how we can reform discipleship to fit our mold.

The first step we took was to look at how Jesus did discipleship. These are a few of the passages we pulled out.

  • Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life- he cannot be my disciple”
  • Luke 14:27 “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
  • Luke 14:33 “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”
  • John 8:31 “If you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples”
  • John 13:34-35 “As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
  • John 15:8 “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

What other Scripture do you hold on to for your discipleship program?

Is Hell A Dirty Word?

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Last Friday I attended Denver Seminary‘s forum where they invited Rob Bell to speak on his new book Love Wins. There are already a ton of reviews (here, here, and here) so I will not be adding to that, but rather want to speak to the nature of the attitude of Christians towards Rob. At the same time, in no way to I support a theology that states there is no hell or anything other than what the Scriptures say.

When I showed up to the forum, there was already an air of opposition in the room. Whispering had already commenced, some of them not so private, and others with deep frowns and a look of disgust. The whole event seemed like Rob versus EVERYONE at Denver Seminary and everyone had already made up their mind (later finding out that it was irregardless if they had even read the book). From the conversation to the questions the audience asked afterwards, I feel like he was never given a shot.

If I ever have a doubt about my faith, I officially do not feel comfortable stating so now. This is not just because of the forum. People all over Twitter, Facebook, and the Internet were stating, I haven’t read the book but how could Rob Bell believe such a thing? And I know I do not have it all together, so do I dare voice my doubts, concerns, and questions? I am not going to lie, because of the hate spewed from these arguments I do not want to be judged by so many people. So if Christians treat Rob Bell, a “Christian authority”, with such contempt, how much more so would they with me?

In the end, I find myself renewed by the LOVE OF CHRIST towards others and fearful for those who have such anger and hatred in their hearts.

Romans 15:5-7
5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

Beyond Club : Discipleship

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I know what you are thinking, “Jeremy, you messed up the title. Isn”t it suppose to be Club Beyond: Discipleship?” Actually, I did not mess up. Youth for Christ – Military is starting to clearly define two different components of our ministry: Club Beyond and Beyond Club. The first, Club Beyond, is our outreach program. That includes dodgeball tournaments, going paintballing, and even service projects. But in the last several years, we have noticed that there is a very clear ministry of in-reach with Bible studies, small groups, student leadership, and ministry beyond high school. We have come to define that as Beyond Club.

United States Air Force Academy Club Beyond (or USAFA Club Beyond) is actually rooted in the Beyond Club ministry, running a high school and middle school club that looks more like a Bible study, a Sunday small group, and now we are adding a discipleship program. January 15th, we had a three hour training session to look at what discipleship could be, how Jesus did discipleship, and how we as disciple-teachers can learn to be active listeners with the students.

Along with the training, I required that all of the volunteers read 99 Thoughts on Leading Well by Reza Zadeh. Here is a quick excerpt that speaks to where I am at in my faith and ministry:

93. Get people together – and send them out.
The old adage “strength in numbers” rings true in ministry. Think about what would happen if you got a handful of trained leaders together from your ministry and commisssioned them to go out and find ways to spread the good news of Jesus, either in word or deed. When people serve alongside at least one other person, their work is multiplied. Unite a couple of passionate Christians together, and their potential is limitless. Be kingdom-minded and send people out together into the community to spread the good news of Jesus. (p. 93 of 99 Thoughts on Leading Well)

Please continue to pray for these students, volunteers, and this ministry, that God may be clearly visible, present to their needs, and received by many students.