Tonight we continue on in our new student series, Don’t Be A Hater, which means we are officially in the thick of things. Opening weekend was a week away, now it’s time to take what we’ve learned and apply it to what we do. There is a lot you learn from an opening weekend, some lessons are pretty general like how well prepared are your volunteers, how do you greet students, touch base with parents, etc. But the most important thing you can learn from an opening weekend is:
The Status Of Your Heart
It’s a time of exposure and vulnerability. You can walk into that first night, that first weekend feeling overwhelmed, anxious, nervous and even a little jaded but walk out feeling as if God has just dunked you in a pool of joy. Everything in the world could go wrong from missing a page of your message to a copier low on toner, but if you are walking away from that night as if you hit the game winning homer, it’s going to be alright.
As youth ministers I think we are good to examine our programs and our messages. We are consistent to critique ministers, parents and even kids. We review trends and cultures; however, when it comes to examining our hearts, I think we tend to ignore it. Opening weekend is a good time for this.
Everything is hyped, everything is supposed to be exciting, and all of that should be contagious. And we can walk out of an opening weekend with our bodies and minds wiped, exhausted and even a little frustrated (especially if you find your tire flat), but if your heart should be flying right? If it’s flying that’s good because you know despite all the errors systematically that you are into this and you feel God working through you. But if your heart feels dead, you might wonder what does that mean?
If your heart is dead, you need to sit down with your pastor, but if you feel like something isn’t right it’s important to take the next days to examine it’s status. Your heart has been tested and if you are feeling totally drained probably the best thing to do is take some quiet time with God. Try to set yourself up on a mini retreat. If you feel highly motivated it’s good to take that energy and share the wins and the highs with your leaders. You’ll want to keep them excited and pump.
I wish I could write longer on this but then this post would be a book; however, I want to strongly encourage other youth workers to share how they examine the status of their heart after an opening weekend or any weekend. So where’s your heart?