Last night I ran across some scratchy notes from Young Life’s New York Metro Region Leadership Weekend. I can’t remember who it was speaking that weekend, all I know is that I have never experienced better training for relationship ministry than through my years with YL. If you’re not connected and you want to learn how to do well in the slow-moving un-sexy but beautifully intimate trenches of daily reaching the lost, you should make the time to sit in on your local Young Life area’s leader training times for at least 6 months. They would love to have you even if you’re not going to volunteer as a leader for them.
Special thanks to TK Kennedy, Mac McNally, Bill Paige, Joe Paolella, Mark Shull, Bryan Reaume, Tim Vickers, and Paul Coty for your years of example and teaching and leadership.
I’ll share some of the notes as best I can. I was barely 19 at this time and just being hit with some of these basic and profound principles for good ministry. I’ll just add what my notes said which will be mostly incomplete and lacking.
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James 3:13-4:10
Two Kinds of Wisdom
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
James 4
Submit Yourselves to God
1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
4 You adulterous people,t don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”t
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
-What will it take for you to give up on this calling?
Train with the mentality that today or tomorrow could be full on war
Tools
#1- be a man of God’s Word –read the word with the eye of a lover not the eye of a critic — how can you have such a treasure that people die for and yet you ignore it??
#2- be a man of prayer
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EPHESIANS 4
Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ
1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all………………
BODY OF CHRIST
Humility, gentleness bear with one another
4:4 there is but one God… *guard the unity of the body
Speak about anyone without them being around means that there is a chance you will gossip about them. Safer just to not talk about who is not present
-How important is it to teach new believers about not speaking down or being selfish or gossiping so that their friends will see them as different?
4:15 if you don’t speak the truth in love in your team, spiritual immaturity sets in.
-some of us need to learn to speak the truth
-some of us need to learn to love better
Matthew 15:18
16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them.17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”
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Strategy-
The core = Jesus (time spent with Jesus)
Prayer!
Relational = Incarnational —-> “the word became flesh …” be as a spy for Christ sent here moving within
John 2 – Wedding Jesus thought it worth a miracle to keep the party going
Contact work- different levels
being visible—>having conversation—>invite them to club (outreach meeting)—>invite them to camp (quality time away from distractions, more intimate)—>campaigners (deeper discussions about this life with Christ)—>Discipleship (mentoring relationship 1-on-1 time, Elijah/Elisha, Paul/Timothy)
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
so don’t know if this is helpful to anyone at all. This was not an attempt to train anyone for ministry via wordpress, just wanted to take some time to dwell on the awesome men of God that I have had to privilege to call friend and also to hopefully not lose these notes.
Fellongrace 