Intentional Excellence

For the past three months I have been praying, reading and faithfully searching for answers to numerous issues in youth ministry. None more so than that of “excellence.” As I continue to delve into the Word, youth resources and good old Google, I continually come up with a word that is more important than excellence: Intentional. The more I read and study, the more I see the word “intentional.” My studies began with Mark DeVries book "Sustainable Youth Ministries," before shifting to lunch and dinner with two other youth workers. Now matter what I read or who I spoke with, the word “Intentional” became synonmous with that of Excellence. Maybe it is my Master's in litertaure and all the hours teachers bashed into my head, “When you see it more than twice, it's an important word.” It could also be my paranoia. Whatever the case, I am not joking when I say I pulled random articles from “Group” Magazine and there was that word again. So, I began thinking, does the Bible show us Intentional Excellence? Of course it does. Where? The best book ever: Proverbs.

In Proverbs, there is a very small, but profoud verse that encompasses much of the work youth workers must do. Proverbs 14:4 says that “Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of oxen.” Many scholars have disected and drawn conclusions on this small verse. My favorite is The Ryrie Study Bible in which the note says, “There is no milk without some manure. Some disturbance is the price of growth and accomplishment.” My take is much like that of Mark DeVries in Intentional Youth Ministry: “You have to work hard to get the product you want...because your ministry is drawn up to give you the results you want.” Wow! Based on the principles in this powerful verse and the ministries I am a part of, you have to get dirty to really see some growth. In the context of Proverbs, oxen were invaluable tool in the process of running a farm and helping produce a harvest that one could live off of. How does that connect with youth workers? In several ways, the most important being: You gotta roll up your sleeves and dive in. I have come up with 5 things that Youth Workers must be Intentional about in order to obtain the Excellence they want to see in ministry: Relationships, Quiet Time, Changing Culture, Parents and Kids. The other ideas/items that could fit into this mold of intentionality can probably be put into one of these.

When we look at Proverbs 14:4, one will quickly notice that an oxen is a huge tool when it comes to a farm and producing the crop we want. Likewise, as youth workers, we need the tools that help create excellence, knowing full well that being intentional about our work will result in God's harvest. Practically speaking that means we must have our own oxen/tool, the most important tool being a solid Bible and the self control to have a quiet time numerous times in the week. Doug Fields has written many books and articles about youth workers and their first two years at their current church. He notes that the most important thing one can do is slow down and focus on Christ, which must be done intentinally, as we can't abide in Christ if we are doing things on our own. The problem is we become intentional in “doing things” because we were “hired to hangout with kids.” Sadly, this leads to a lack of excellence...our “manure” is not connected to the oxen, in a metaphorical sense. We must be intentional about our time with Christ, knowing it is vital to all that we do as an individual in Christ. It is not ironic that a few verses later, we read that “there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Stern words. Are we being intentional in our quiet time? Mark DeVries writes that the “most powerful resource we have for lasting change is to initiate change in ourselves first, which comes only through time with Christ.”

As I was having lunch with Pastor Joe, he said, “Relationships have to be intentional.” I asked what that meant. “You have that specific question that breaks your time up...that awkward, must-think-about things-moment when you are hanging out with kids.” Wow! That blew my mind. It shouldn't, but it did. Throughout the New Testament, Christ was intentional about meeting and asking questions of people, most notably, the woman at the well in John 4. In John Maxwell's Leadership Bible, he writes that Jesus showed, as a leader, the “Law of Connection,” that is, Leaders initate the contact with others. They are intentional about challenging others to be better than they are. There is that word again. Intentional. Are the relationships I have formed intentional in challenging people to grow in Christ, but avoiding a condemning tone towards others? Christ never condemned the woman at the well.

If intentional relationships are vital for our ministry, than think about this principle in terms of parents and children. If you are a parent, the prinicpal of “cow manure” is HUGE when it comes to raising your child. You must be intentional about teaching God's truth to your student because one day there will be a final exam. What is sad is the intentional attutde many have in regards to their finances or personal TV time, yet neglect the “heart work” that this powerful Proverb reveals. We think that kids will just “turn out” or if “we get them enough church” they will somehow turn into great believers for Christ. Andy Stanley writes a provacative challenge to parents in his book Principle of the Path: Too many of us treat our spirititual lives and that of our kids as if they were automobiles. We wait for the red engine light to flash before we make a change. But by then, it's too late. The teen years are when parents see what they have invested in their children. Sadly, many try and cram spiritual things into their kids during these years, hoping it will work, but you can't cram a human being like you cram for a math test.” Ouch. Those words hurt me and I don't even have kids! Larry Fowler writes that as he was on a flight to a conference, he ran into a man who specilized in financial planning for compaines, yet he had never sat down with his wife and come up with a plan for raising their children. It was a devastating, awkward and life changing flight for the financial planner. He quickly set up a plan for spiritually raising his kids. But the important thing to remember about kids and parents is being intentional in meeting and encouraging them.

Finally, in regards to intentionality, there is the idea of culture. I don't mean political culture or even Hollywood culture, as we can't change that. However, we can change the culture that surrounds our church, if we are intentional in asking the tough questions: What are people saying about us? Why don't people come back? Remember, we have to get into the manure and engage in making that oxen work for us if we are to produce the product we want. Mark Devries writes that while youth workers can never stop students from attending sports instead of youth group, we can create a culture that makes it tough for them to miss. He compares this to a greenhouse: “We can create an environment in which growth and change are probable...think greenhouse. The right temperature, light, food, and water supply produce living things. We can't control busy kids, complaining parents or demanding senior pastors. But we can take and build upon little victories that slowly build until the culture has been changed.” We can plant, water and buy vitamins, but ultimately, God is the one who brings who He wants. What a fascinating metaphor that brillantly brings these other elements together. We can create, through intentional means, an atmopshere that promotes the raising of godly families and children. We can create an atmosphere where relationships are at the forefront of engaging dialogue, much like Christ with the woman at the well.

As I continue to research and study what it means to be intentional, the one thing I have continually come across is the regrets youth workers have when it comes their life and ministry. Nathan Kilgore wrote an article “The 5 things I could've done better.” Number 1? Being intentional in relationships, from discipleship to better probing questions, this man's number one regret is Intional. Believe it or not, if you/we want excellence, it starts right here: Being intentional in all that you do for Christ. He is the source of Excellence, and if we want it, He has given us the model and means to acquire it, we just have to get dirty and not scoff at the idea of being near manure.

Man, I better get to work. But not before I connect with the true vine.
Intentional Andrew :)