Prompt:
1.What extrinsic distractions can you identify in the teaching environment of
teenagers (in your youth group…if applicable)?
2.What changes need to be made and what improvements can you make (suggest)?
3.Are there any financial considerations to the changes you would make?
4.Identify a missions organization (preferably online) that offers mission trips for
teenagers and youth groups. Describe what you learned from the organization’s
website.
(250 words minimum)
One of the extrinsic distractions that I have identified in my youth group is the tardiness of
students in coming to youth group on time. This poses itself as a distraction in that it divides the
attention of the students who are listening to a talk or are involved in a group discussion by
providing a stimulus that is distracting to the group as a whole. Often when students are tardy,
their arrival is anything but unnoticed by the rest of the students, especially when that student is
well known or popular among his/her friend group. Another element of a student’s tardiness is
that they are often loud upon arrival and it often takes an adult leader to ask them to be quiet
before they change their level of voice. The changes that need to be made in this specific regard
is to have the students all arrive on time or set the expectation of respectfulness if one does need
to arrive late. One improvement that I can suggest and seek to implement is to sit down with my
students and have a discussion on the importance of arriving on time as a representation of their
respect and challenge them in the realm of time management as an important part of growing up.
One other idea that might be an improvement is to have the students who are late miss out on the
benefits of youth group, including the meal, snacks, etc. There seems to be little if any financial
considerations that need to be made for this plan of action.
A missions organization that I have identified is Youth With A Mission (YWAM). They are an
incredible organization that seeks to partner with youth in getting them involved in local and
global missions work. Their vision is to help students know Jesus for the sake of making Him
known. They fulfill this vision by offering discipleship training schools where youth can go and
get equipped on how to grow in their relationship with the Lord, defend their faith, and develop
an evangelistic gospel-centered message and lifestyle. The next step after this is to send out
students on one or many short-term or long-term mission trips where the youth can begin to
apply and execute on what they have learned.
Replies x2 (100 words minimum each)
Hello Robert,
Thank you for your post and for identifying what I believe to be a distraction that seems to
plague most youth environments. I can relate to and agree with your statement that the sounds of
student’s cell phones, tablets, and smart watches going off create quite a disturbance in any
setting where teaching is being done. I can remember just this past weekend a student’s phone go
off right in the middle of the conclusion to my talk where I was challenging the room to rest in
the grace that Christ offers and move in the obedience to be gracious to those who have sinned
against us. As the cellphone text alert went off, it sounded just like my ringtone, and I had to
pause for a brief moment before regaining the room and continuing. One effective strategy that I
have seen used in youth environments to lessen these distractions is to have students keep one
another accountable for staying focused and attentive. It also helps to give them a time either
before or after the main teaching time to use their devices.
Hello Dr. Vandegriff,
I enjoyed reading your post and found your thoughts and comments on the financial aspects of
youth ministry and how they reveal where the heart of the church is towards the youth by the
percentage of the budget provided for the NextGen ministries. I remember my senior pastor at
the church that my family and I attended during my childhood speak on youth ministry from the
pulpit as the most important ministry in which the church had the opportunity to be involved and
invested in. His vision was that the future leaders in the church came from the children’s
ministry, and therefore needed special direction on how to grow and navigate the world from a
Christian perspective. It is my hope and prayer that the Lord would sustain that passion in my
heart as I move forward in the youth ministry leadership position that He has called me into.
