Both Moses and Joshua enjoyed a close relationship with God. Moses was one whom the Lord spoke to face-to-face (Deut. 34:10). God spoke to Joshua too. It was this close relationship with God that helped them out of many thorny situations.

God speaks to us too. God communicates with us today in many ways—the Holy spirit reminds us through an inner witness, through nature and created things, through other people, certain events and circumstances, and many other ways. But God speaks most clearly through the Bible and by it we can more clearly hear what he says through other means.

As leaders, we get personal with God through his Word. The Lord commanded Joshua to deeply think on the Scripture day and night, keeping the words on his lips and being careful to do according to them (Josh. 1:8). And it is as we delve deeper in His Word that we too could better discern and conform to what God wants for our ministry.

Or as Psalm 119:105 points out—God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

And as we do according to his Word, the Lord blesses not only our ministry but our lives as well. “For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.” (Deut 32:47)

Joshua faced problems, he faced temporary defeats, he was tricked, and his enemies ganged up against him. This would drive him to his knees, make him call out to God. In the end, with God by his side, he triumphed. And the Israelites achieved their dream.

As we enter the places where we hope to implement our vision we face opposition. May it not derail your plans but instead drive you to get personal with God. God who “is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.”

Our God who turns dreams into reality.

This post is part of the Youth Connection articles. Other YC articles can also be downloaded or seen in the Resource Section of this website.

As we enter the places where we hope to implement our vision we face opposition. Going against the way things have always been is hard work. One guy who experienced this was Joshua.

In the latter parts of the book of Deuteronomy and the beginning of the book of Joshua, there is one phrase that sticks out.

“Be strong and courageous,” Moses tells Joshua twice. (Deut. 31:6,7).

The Lord commands Joshua three times, “Be strong and courageous,” (Deut. 31:23; Joshua 1:6, 7 & 9).

The men of Israel give themselves to follow Joshua ending with the words, “Only be strong and courageous.” (Joshua 1:18)

Why this phrase?

Israel would be doing a lot of actions in the coming days. Actions require strength to initiate and courage to complete. As we fight against the status quo, leaders will require both strength and courage in the things that they will do.

If you have recently taken any of our seminars, would you do something for me? Turn to the back of your student notebook and go over those plans you wrote down. And as you look at them, be reminded of what the Lord said to Joshua “Be strong and very courageous.”

In our ministry as we step out in faith He will guide us and prepare our people. He will go ahead of us into the places where we face opposition. Even the troubles we encounter and our own weaknesses He can use to fulfill all his promises to us. The Lord always ended his command to Joshua with the promise “for the LORD your God is with you.” And He will be with us. The Lord Jesus himself says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19-20)

This post is part of the Youth Connection articles. Other YC articles can also be downloaded or seen in the Resource Section of this website.

Ever had a big dream for youth ministry that you never got to implement?

In our seminars, students write down plans of action. They are charged up to begin working on their big goals. BUT, for some… many of these plans remain unfulfilled.

For in the places we hope to implement our vision we face opposition. There will be people we need to convince, leaders we need to motivate and young people who need to know what’s going on. We also need to work against our own fears and uncertainties. These may have the overall effect of discouraging us, making the dreams we thought were so good during the training end up being… just dreams. But they need not remain that way.

In this and the following posts let me state 3 things we need to do to get to our dreams.

The first is — Communicate the Vision Well.

Team Israel had a big dream. To take the land promised to them. It had eluded them for 40 years and at this moment they were ready to begin the process. There was one problem though—the man who had led them for 40 years was about to die, they were about to lose their leader.

As you strive to reach the vision of your youth ministry many changes are also occurring that might cause you to leave your dreams. Moses prepared his people for the coming change in his ministry by communicating the vision well.

The whole book of Deuteronomy was his last speech. Moses spoke. It is not the speech of a leader’s achievement. He speaks of God. Of What He has done in the life of the tribe. He speaks about what life will be like in the new land. But mostly his main point is to remind the group of their main purpose—to go in and take the land. (Deut. 1:8; 6:10; 9:5; 29:13; 30:20)

You too have specific purposes and a big dream for your ministry. Have you communicated this to your people? One way we have addressed this in our seminars is by asking you to define your dream and write down your purposes. But let me dig a little deeper. Is the dream you have something rooted in God’s Word? And does it give you excitement to see it come into reality? If not, perhaps this is not at all the purpose God has given for your group to accomplish and the first thing to do is to spend time with God, the Bible and the leadership team to come to a better understanding on what God would want your ministry to do. If it is, have you communicated it well? Like Moses, we need to speak to everyone of the big picture. To tell them of what God has done to bring us to this point and to also speak of what the future holds for the group.

After Moses was gone, the Israelites did not forget, they went on and succeeded in obtaining what had been promised to them. The ministry will continue, the vision will keep on, if it is communicated well.

This post is part of the YC  which we hope will be of use in your youth ministry. Other YC articles can also be downloaded or seen in the Resource Section of this website.

Today the weathermen also announced Tropical Typhoon Basyang has left the country and won’t be back. Which is good news.

Today will also mark the start of something new, mentors for the Heart of the Leader Seminar arrive in the Philippines a few hours from now.

The Five Tanks Of Youth Ministry – Here’s a useful way of looking at your youth ministry condition.

Youth Ministry is Simple Matt Cleaver points out that youth ministry doesn’t need to be complicated.

Ten Ways the Internet Is Changing Evangelism and Missions – The Internet is… quickly becoming the starting point for most ministries.

Don’t Go Diotrephes – Great point on leadership in a series I’m currently reading through. Check out the rest here.

A Serious Look at Games: The Why, How and What of Great Games (and Great Game Leaders) This is like THE thesis of games in youth ministry. Highly recommended for the game master.

Andy Stanley on Asking the Right Questions “In our lives, in our families, in our churches, questions accomplish two critical things. They reveal values and they reinforce values.”

Video YM Tip: What do you win young people with?

Over at our Facebook page we are doing a Book-to-School contest (Since school just started in the Philippines).

Join and you get the chance to give your youth leader a book. Here’s how it works:

On our wall, just write the contest phrase, a youth leader’s name and church name.

Example: “I would like to give the Pro-Tips book to Juan dela Cruz of Brown Christian Church”

As a start, we will be giving a copy of Pro-Tips by Maloi Salumbides. and then other books weekly.

This contest will be open to anyone in Philippines or Asia, so don’t hesitate to join as we’ll mail you the copy if you don’t live in Manila. If you do live in Manila, aside from joining the contest you can drop by the GYMN office and browse or borrow our selection of books geared toward the youth worker.

Click here if you want to join the contest.

Click here if you want to know more about our GYMN library.

During our marathon of trainings in Southeast Asia I met an amazingly talented young man who calls himself Wakka. I was delighted to discover that not only was he a natural musician but he also seemed to be a natural writer. He provided our prayer partners and supporters with a view of our trainings during our stint in Southeast Asia by posting to our Facebook site during or after seminars. If you checked our Facebook page from May 5 to 17 you’ve read of him already.

For those who haven’t, I’ve reposted his paragraphs below to get you a glimpse into our last training outside the Philippines.

A note: This training there was far from Internet access so Wakka did these nightly rather than in real time. Aside from keeping folk updated Wakka also taught some of the sessions (having gone through the GYMN material and having used it in his youth ministry too).

The following takes place between May 10 and May 17, 2010. Everything in square brackets [and italicized] are my edits, the rest our all Wakka’s. Here goes:

[May 10 at 10:46pm] Everyone…. It’s me again Wakka. I will be your host posting of what is going on here in our stationary. Stay tuned and stay posted because I will be the one to update you all. Peace from the East. I’m not even sure if we are in the East. Oh well. Day 2 Begins 2m!

[May 11 at 8:48pm] Hi people, Day 2 of the Seminar. It was Hot, like hot sitting in a oven or Sauna HOT! We were all taking a bath in our sweat, we just needed some shampoo and soap we are complete. haha. We had level 1 and 2 simultaneously but separately of course. I attended and taught Level 1 which went pretty good….

(continuation)…. Our Lecturer/Teacher for Session 2 went pretty long, no pretty… too pretty long if that makes any sense. I felt that the group was not to interactive but according to RCD [That’s our trainer Rey, who did a training here two years ago], they were more active and interacting than before, so i guess that’s a good thing? I think so.

[May 11 at 8:55pm] The crowd are not as “youthee” as i expected, they were more calm, quiet, and focused which kind a scared me, but still they did participate we just got to allow them or forced in a nice way to bring them out. They all have good answers, they just needed an extra push. One main minor/major issue (depending on you), the “program statement” (goal statement but RCD wanted to call it the program statement. I guess they are Program Oriented, I am not sure why. Just letting you know).

The program/goal statement took awhile to understand but hopefully they will get it down and understand before the end of the Seminar. I explained as sweet, easy, understandable, slow as possible and i dont think they catched. but again, it’s the first day to do it. S.1-S.4 [The first four lessons of the seminar] is completed, i believe S.5-S.8 will begin. I will keep you posted. God bless. (too much info huh? hehe.. just wnt keep you guys informed)

[compounding Wakka’s hardship, we needed translators to assist us in teaching since many of the participants did not speak or understand English]

Wakka: If you want to know about L.2, you got ask Alvan, the man who is in charge of all the Chipmonks or Chickmunks (i’m not sure how to spell it, honestly.. no jks sry but u got the idea).

[May 13 at 7:37pm] Yo yo yo people wazz up in the Hizzy?! Nah jokes.. hehe. the last 24 hrs i was not here. I apologize. I was kinda busy doing some clothe cleaning

So far, the seminar is getting better and better. Maybe it’s because the are now understanding the materials or the seminar is almost done. ??? Btw, 2m will be a few sessions then the GRADUATION! We are going to PARTY!!!!!!

[May 16 at 8:50pm] Hello everyone, I’m tuning in on the last finished words of the Seminar. HALLELLUJAH, It is done. The Seminar was awesome and totally awesome. If all of you have enjoyed of the posts, thank for reading. If there are anything that would be improved, let me know, so I will be able to make more enjoyable for you. Peace out and GBU!