Raising Leaders to Encourage Change

Here's a message from Danny Bowers for all of you at Impact 2009 and anyone else considering servant leadership teams!


"To encourage the healthy and get the sick parts heading in a healthy direction I need leaders around me. Not just warm bodies in the room but people who love Christ and want to see His truth invade the lives of students. We have intentionally been hands on with our leaders as much as possible. Praying with them, encouraging them, coaching them, loving on them & challenging them. We have set the standards high and here a few results we have seen already:
• Setting high standards helps our leaders know what is healthy and why we are doing what we are doing. It gives them the boundaries they are working with-in.
• Our communication to leaders needs to always bring them back to our biblical purposes.
• Encouragement needs to come before anything else. Our leaders need to know we love them & care about them. They need to know they matter and are important to us as people, not just helpers in a ministry.
Leaders will give when they see the eternal goal. We have seen leaders pour themselves into these students and the ministry because they understand where we are going.
We have seen our students begin to 'own' the ministry they are in as well as open up to these leaders. I get to sit back and watch the kingdom dance with joy because we are pursuing health. Our standards are based on God's call for our lives, how can you go wrong? "


What are your thoughts on building up leaders? How do you encourage the leaders in your ministry?

Be sure to check out the PDYM Blog. Its a virtual neighborhood of youth pastors and workers who desire to learn from one another and share with others in their journey of working with students.

Why Servant Leadership Teams?

You have student leaders in your youth group. But are they leading others in the same direction you are? Are they leading others to follow hard after Jesus?

Servant leadership teams are vital for healthy, focused student ministries. Students long to be called to something greater than themselves. Why else do you think they invest countless hours into athletic teams, musical groups, etc.? But what is greater than the call of Jesus to follow him? In Basic Training and Servant Team, students will not only develop essential leadership skills, but they will also be challenged to live out their leadership roles as servants within the church, the community, and the world. It is my hope that when students complete Basic Training and Servant Team, they will be equipped as leaders, engaged as servants, and empowered to answer the call of Jesus on their lives.

The main focus of the servant ministry is based on these truths:
• The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20)
• The Greatest Commandment (Matthew 22:34-40)
• The heart of Jesus (Luke 4:14-21, Matthew 5-7, Matthew 25:31-46)
• The example of Jesus (John 13:1-17, Philippians 2:1-18)
• The call of Jesus (Acts 1:8)

When we challenge students to high expectations, they WILL meet them! Servant leadership teams provide the challenge, the accountability, and ultimately the vision that student leaders can connect with as well as opportunities for students to make a difference in their world!

Welcome!

Welcome to our Servant Leadership Teams blog! This is for student ministries pastors, small group leaders, and sponsors who are interested in developing students as servant leaders.

I hope that this will be a useful tool as you envision, create, and lead your servant leadership teams. I will be posting updates, media, and resources, that will hopefully be of some help to you. Please feel free to leave comments, questions, and your own suggestions to share your ideas with others!