I absolutely love what I get to do for the National Network of Youth Ministries.  I tell people all the time that if I won the lottery, I’d keep working for NNYM because it is what i’m purposed to do.

I was reminded that networking is my spiritual gift this past week, when I went to a concert.

I found out that Third Day, Tenth Avenue North and Trevor Morgan were going to be in town about three days before the concert.

Trevor and I grew up at Frazer Memorial UMC in Montgomery, AL.  We haven’t seen each other for probably twenty years but through the wonders of Facebook, we’d been in touch for about the last three years. He arranged for some will call tickets to be left for me.

During the welcome of the concert a friend who works for Air1 Radio spoke from the stage.  Trevor opened up and it was really cool to see a friend on stage.  I texted my Air1 friend after Trevor was finished and we got to chat during part of Tenth Avenue North. He asked about things and I told him about working for Hospice. He told me he had been thinking about doing an interview with a Hospice to let their listeners be informed about the good that it offers.

About this time, Trevor called me and we got to hang out for 15-20 minutes during an intermission backstage.  It was so much fun to catch up and hear his heart for ministry.  It was also very encouraging to have another friend who is still walking passionately after Jesus that I grew up with.  Though I like Third Day, after we talked I headed home because I had more work to do.

While driving home I called my hospice boss and told her that we might have a chance to spread the word about the work of Hospice to our region.  She was thrilled.

I think everyone has stories of friendships leading to other connections and opportunities but I think I have more of them and that’s why networking is my spiritual gift.

If you are reading this, you are one of my connections that I am blessed to have and I’m so grateful to be able to connect friends, churches and ministries together to help advance the Kingdom.

Simply Soul Care has been operating for a few months.

l getting our legs under us as we discover better ways to serve youth workers.

If you’ve followed us on twitter or if you’ve been one of the numerous youth workers who have been helped by one of our Soul Care Advocates, would you please leave a comment and tell why are glad this ministry exists? Thanks!

I joked about wearing three hats at the National Youth Workers Convention before I went but I turned out to be so true and I didn’t suffer from identity whiplash because all  three roles are who I am.  The three hats were: National Network of Youth Ministries hat, We Love Our Youth Worker hat and Simply Soul Care hat.

I probably talked with over 400 youth workers about We Love Our Youth Worker. I would say something like this:

We Love Our Youth Worker began in the UK about three years ago as a way of creating a healthier working environment for youth workers.  It’s been a great success as you have the Anglicans, Catholics, Baptist, Presbyterians and more agreeing on something because it has nothing to do with theology or giving your youth worker a twenty percent pay raise.

It’s seven simple promises that churches agree to:

We will pray and spiritually support

We will give space for retreat and reflection

We will provide ongoing training and development

We will give at least one full day of rest per week

We will share responsibility

We will strive to be an excellent employer

We will celebrate and appreciate

We’ve now brought it over to the United States to help youth workers and their churches to be stronger and have a healthier approach to ministry.  As a covenant, we ask the youth worker to agree to the same principles as a supportive act towards their churches.  I happen to also work, very part time, for Simply Youth Ministry serving as a pastor with Simply Soul Care.  I know if more churches were doing these seven simple things for their youth worker, we’d be helping fewer youth workers with Simply Soul Care.

One of the highlights this year was meeting one of the first youth workers that we helped with Simply Soul Care while I was in San Diego. He found me and thanked me for what we were offering and for the person on our team.

That is why I do this and why I’m so thrilled to be a part of Simply Soul Care, we’re helping youth workers stay in ministry longer and to keep working in the fields for the harvest. Thank you for your support and encouragement as I keep wearing my three hats so I can help youth workers be stronger and healthier and have a longer and deeper ministry of reaching students with the Gospel.

Dear Lord,

Give us the teenagers that we may lead them to Thee.  Our hearts ache for the millions of young people who remain untouched by the Gospel and for the tragically large proportion of those who have dropped by the wayside and find themselves without spiritual guidance.  Help us to give them a chance, oh Father, a chance to become aware of thy Son’s beauty and healing power in the might of the Holy Spirit.  Oh, Lord Jesus, give us the teenagers, each one at least long enough for a meaningful confrontation with Thee.  We are at best unprofitable servants, but thy grace is sufficient.  Oh, thou Holy Spirit, give us the teenagers.  For we love them and know them to be awfully lonely.  Dear Lord, give us the teenagers.

Jim Rayburn was the founder of YoungLife

You never can tell when you might be meeting a future boss. So it’s important to always be yourself and to guard your character. You might lose a job because of some snide comment about a mutual friend or someone they don’t even know.

I met Doug Clark, my boss with the National Network of Youth Ministries, around ten years before I ever worked with and for him.

Adam Mclane recently talked about his 3rd anniversary at Youth Specialties.  That was a fun ride for him, going from a local church youth dude in Michigan to Internet Dude for YS in San Diego, in about a month.

Adam lived out this principle. Every time he interacted with the YS crew, it built into greater credibility for him. So when they began looking for a “web dude”, Adam was at the top of their list, even though he wasn’t looking to leave his church.

I am happy to announce that I reaped this principle recently when I was asked to join the team at Simply Youth Ministry. I’m going to oversee their new pastoral care service, Simply Soul Care.

Here’s the background of my  year and a half “interview” with Kami Gilmour.

We met in 2009 at the National Youth Workers Convention in Atlanta. I had just come on board with NNYM and Doug thought it’d be good if we met.  I don’t think we talked for more than twenty minutes but it was clear that we were on the same page on a lot of things regarding youth ministry and Kingdom building.

We kept in touch and one day, about two or three weeks before the 2010 Simply Youth Ministry Conference, we were talking about helping hurting youth workers and we just kind of dreamed a little of what could and should be done.  I arrived at the conference and discovered I was co-leading three workshops.  One was “What to Do When You are Fired” and the other one, we did twice, “Help and Hope for Hurting Youth Workers.”

I didn’t mind not knowing about the workshops because both of those topics are close to my heart and part of my story so I could do them rolling out of bed in the morning.  I also didn’t mind because Kami wanted to do whatever she could to help youth workers and to put it off a year was unacceptable. I also served as one of the conference pastors.  People would make appointments and I was part of the team that met with youth workers to help then process what they were facing, encourage them and pray with them.

Kami and Andy Brazelton (I met Andy around 1995 when he was a high school punk on a mission trip to Haiti, but that’s another story) invited me to join a group of 15-20 youth workers from around the country to discuss and plan the 2011 SYMC in May or June of 2010.  That was a fun group, I felt like I was the last kid picked for an all-star team as I looked around the room. While there, I think she and I discussed improving the pastoral care side of the conference.

That fall I was able to check an item off of my bucket list by serving as a convention pastor for both of Youth Specialties’ National Youth Worker Conventions.  That was a fun and humbling experience. I met with Kami during the Nashville convention and we got caught up on a lot of things and we talked about “The Shelter” at the Simply Youth Ministry Convention.

The Shelter would provide a pastoral care service to youth workers but the distinction would be that Patti Gibbons and I would meet with youth workers, hear their story and then connect them with the best person on our 25-30 member Shelter Team.

It worked wonderfully.  Our team helped around 75 youth workers during the the conference.  The greatest part for me, was not meeting with the few youth workers I met with but connecting the youth workers to the Shelter Team members.  It was the same kind of joy you get when you equip someone to do ministry and you see them succeed.  I did not equip our team members, they are all top notch, but it was fun to hand off ministry needs to capable people and hear the stories that resulted from making those connections.

That’s what Simply Soul Care will be: connecting youth workers with trusted veteran youth ministry friends, who will be able encourage them and provide pastoral care during the storms of ministry.

Here is Kami’s announcement: Simply Soul Care – an oasis of hope by youth workers, for youth workers

Quick update to all of our praying friends:

Family Stuff: Tonja is now working for Lubbock ISD as a library assistant, splitting her time between two junior highs. As a bibliophile, she’s ecstatic! Taylor will be a Junior at Lubbock High and will be driving soon. (Lots of prayers for that one) Sarabeth is going into 7th grade and is returning to the Margaret Talkington School for Young Women Leaders.

I’m still loving working for the hospice as a chaplain. It is real ministry despite not being a real part time job, yet. I currently have three patients and I probably need 7-9 patients for it to be my only part time job.

I’m thrilled to share with you that I’ve been asked to serve on the launch group and future advisory board for “We Love Our Youth Worker US”. This board is comprised of denominational and youth ministry leaders from around the country with a variety of backgrounds and convictions.

We Love Our Youth Worker is a national covenant between churches and youth workers that seeks to create a healthier work environment by agreeing to hold to seven values:

1. We will pray and support

2. We will give space for retreat and reflection

3. We will provide ongoing training and development

4. We will give a full day of rest each week

5. We will share responsibility

6. We will strive to be an excellent employer

7. We will celebrate and appreciate

This was first done in the UK and we are adopting it for the United States. It will officially launch at the National Youth Workers Convention in San Diego. I will also be representing WLOYW at the convention at their booth.

A big, fun announcement is coming this week: If you’ve read any of my Facebook or twitter updates over the last month, you may have seen me mention #ProjectX. I have been using the label #ProjectX because I couldn’t talk about it publicly, yet. I’m thrilled to let you know that I will be sending another prayer update on Tuesday that will explain exactly what #ProjectX is. It may be late at night that the prayer update goes out but if you view my Facebook or Twitter updates, you’ll probably see brief explanations during the day.

Thanks again for all of your prayers and encouragement. I couldn’t do this ministry without either one of them, or you.

Keep Lovin’ Jesus,

Len

Thanks for your prayer support.  It results in more than we will ever know on this side of heaven, so please keep praying for us.

1.  Tonja’s Job

Tonja’s job at the school is over and currently doesn’t have anything.  Please pray for a better permanent job or for a good temporary job until school starts in August.

2. Summer Giving

I’ve been told that giving typically slows down in Summer so it’d be wonderful to report to you next month that we gained new supporters and current supporters maintained their giving.  Please pray for those things.

3. Len’s Side Gigs

Most of you know that I work at Sears (10-20 hours a week) and as a hospice chaplain (1-4 hours a week) to help supplement my NNYM paycheck, as we keep raising support. Please pray for more patients with the hospice.  My hope is to work at the hospice for 10-15 hours a week.  It’s a new hospice so they just need more patients for this to happen.

I’m not asking you to pray for people to get sick and become our patients but I am asking that you’d pray that those who are already sick and need our services, will discover us and allow us to care for them so I can average 10-15 hours a week.

4. Rebuild Alabama

Tornadoes have been in the news for over a month, the latest devastation in Joplin, MO has caused some to forget the continued recovery in Alabama.  My friend Paul Turner is helping groups minister in Alabama. Please pray for Rebuild Alabama and if you want to help or keep up with things visit their group page on Facebook.

5. Scott Linscott Needs a Liver

Scott is a friend, he’s one of my prayer supporters and he needs a liver.  If anyone wants to keep up with Scott’s journey and pray for him, please “like” his Facebook page.

If you get chance, I’d love to know what’s going on with you so I can better pray for you.

Keep Lovin’ Jesus,

Len

People hurt each other.  We know that.  We even know that “Hurt People Hurt People“. That’s a great book that shares the majority of people who habitually strike out at others, are deeply wounded themselves.  Duh! But it’s by a Ph. D and it goes way more in depth, so if you have a chance, read it.

Being hurt by someone is never easy or fun but when we are hurt by people who are so hurt they need bellhops for their emotional baggage, it’s easier.

The hardest hurts are by those that we are closest to.  The ones that we have shared dreams with, created positive futures and gone to battle with or for.  They can be family or people who we consider family from work, church, school, small groups, or anyone we are close to.

A couple of years ago, I co-lead a “Help and Hope for Hurting Youth Workers” workshop at the Simply Youth Ministry Conference. Aaron Giesler was the other co-leader and he said something simple yet profound that I have remembered it and used it with others ever since then. He said, “Good people do bad things for good reasons.”

I’m sure he didn’t originate that idea but it has stuck with me, ever since.  Think about your own life and experiences, probably it was rare that someone sought to destroy you, crush your heart or betray you.

I often hear stories of betrayal and hurt from youth worker friends of mine.  It happens to everyone but that’s the circle of friends, that I work with and know.  There is some comfort when you know the pain someone caused you was not intentional, but it still stings.

We often hurt those that we are closest to the most. So it shouldn’t surprise you, when you are on the receiving end.

But how do you deal with that painful sting?

For Paul it was straightforward, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Romans 12:18

Some people don’t want to leave at peace with you or anyone else and you can’t make them but you can try.  Control what you can control and surrender everything else. If you don’t surrender it, resentment and hurt can begin to control you. And you don’t want to bitterness to become the master of your heart.

It’s not fast, you have to be on guard and you have to monitor your heart, but you can forgive the people or person who hurt you.  Having a person or two that you can 100% trust, vent with and listen to is part of dealing with the raw emotions but if you don’t, it’s going to take longer than what is healthy.

Pray for those that hurt you.  It’s not easy but it’s how you begin forgiving them.

We often don’t know another person’s heart or intentions so we have to just go with what we know for sure. We should treat them the way we’d want to be treated even when they are not treating us the same way.

Ultimately, when someone hurts us, it’s just another reminder that this world is not what it’s supposed to be and neither are we or our friends.

I started being a hospice chaplain a couple of months ago.

I tell people all the time; it’s not easy but it’s very rewarding and it’s an honor to walk with people and their families as they face death.

I think every Christian needs to be a hospice chaplain.  Okay, they don’t need to be a paid staff chaplain but every Christian should be doing what hospice chaplains do.

1.  Remind people that death is real and it’s just around the corner.

2. Help people have a good death.

Death is going to happen to each person you interact with, are they prepared to face death? Facing death well involves multiple layers but the eternal one, is pretty significant.

3.  Being with people is more important than having all the answers.

I’m not against giving answers but the gift of presence and empathy is often the most precious gift.  How often do we give that to each other?  Too often we are more concerned with our agendas than providing an incarnational presence.

That’s only a few things but I hope you start with them as you shine where God has you.