If you tear down a sparrow’s nest the bird will soon build the nest again in the same place as it was before. However, if you pull the nest down a couple times, the sparrow will seek a new place–a location that is higher up, and beyond your destructive reach.

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
(Matt. 11:28 NLT).

We’re important,
but not essential;

valuable,
but not indispensable.

We have a part in the play,
but we are not the main act.

A song to sing,
but we are not the featured voice.

God is.

To “vet” is to make a careful examination of something or someone. When it comes to finding youth ministry volunteers you need to both vet your program as well as your prospective volunteers. It also makes a handy acronym for three crucial components of working with volunteers in youth ministry:

Insecurity
We may feel like we are imposing on others, or that others might think we are less than capable if we ask for help.

• They can develop relationships with kids that you would not be able to reach on your own.
• They can model a variety of personality styles and expressions of faith and devotion to God for your youth.

Should you involve volunteers in youth ministry?

Are you doing the work of ministry to youth by yourself or do you involve others? And what roles do you delegate to others? One of the common misconceptions is that you involve others to do those jobs that you don’t like to do – as a chance to lighten your workload of the meaningless and time consuming tasks so that you can focus on the REAL ministry! This is a big mistake!

Dear Sir,

I am writing in response for your request for additional information in Block #3 of the accident report form. I put “trying to do the job alone” as the cause of my accident.

You said in your letter that I should explain more fully and I trust that the following details should be sufficient:

An old Christian woman whose age began to tell on her had once known much of the bible off by heart. Eventually only one precious bit stayed with her, ‘I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day’ (2 Tim. 1:12). By and by, part of that slipped its hold and she would quietly repeat, “That which I have committed unto Him.’ At last, as she hovered on the borderline between this world and heaven, her loved ones noticed her lips moving. They bent down to see if she needed anything. She was repeating over and over again to herself the one word of the text, ‘Him, Him, Him.’

If students are to develop to their fullest potential as leaders, we must be willing to take five basic steps to assist them in the process:

1. Hear them out. Surveys, forum discussions, and other feedback times will help us learn about students’ needs and where they can be stretched and challenged.