BOOT CAMP

Divisional Youth Leaders .....................4Our Mission .............................................5Seminar Descriptions ............................6Small Group Contact Info .................46Camp Map...............................................47

Crossword Puzzle........................... 31

Salvation Army Programs .............. 37

Books ............................................. 42

Power Mask.................................... 44

Confession Sessions

Good For The SoulAnd Family

by Jim Burns PH.D.

Fading Fads.....

Or Lack of Obedienceby Cari Arias

Branding

The Next Level In EffectiveChurch Communication

by Richard L. Resing

Sports Ministry

Enter His Gates WithThanksgiving

by Major Bob Webster

Youth Ministry

10 Time-Tested Principlesby Captain Kyle Smith

MuLTIMeDIA AnD MInISTrYby Josh Cowing

YOuTh wOrker SPOTLIGhTRosalie Doom & Lorrie Davis

The CALLInGby Roger Fields

A revOLuTIOn In hAwAIIby Rob Noland

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“Pegged” jeans. Stiff bangs. Double socks. Side ponytails. Huge glasses. Those are just some of the lovely fads back in the day. Yes, I am a child of the 80s. I’m glad all of those fads have come and gone (though, personally, I’d much rather have pegged jeans than the ones than hang halfway down your underwear). But what about fads that really aren’t fads to begin with?

Take missions, for example. For several years, it seemed like every youth group did a “missions outreach”. They went to Mexico. They went to New Orleans. They went downtown. Service Corps was absolutely the coolest thing you could ever take part in. It used to be the mark of a “relevant” church to send out mission teams. They were up with the times. Then the fad waned off…then came back…then waned off…now is back…

But since when did missions become a fad? Or, to get more to the point, when did the fad fade?

Pardon me if I’m wrong, but it doesn’t seem to me that the Great Commission was only meant for a few years before and after the year 2000. I’m pretty sure that little statement about “go and make disciples of all the nations” still is a “commission” we’ve been given. This isn’t like AquaNet hairspray. You can’t find that in the stores anymore (thank goodness), but the mission field hasn’t gone away. The harvest is still waiting for the workers.

Who am I to talk? Well, I was a part of Service Corps in one of its “glory days” (it shouldn’t have ups and downs in its popularity, but it does!). In fact, I went four years. But it wasn’t about being part of a fad. It was actually something that got in my blood. Missions started to flow so deeply in my blood that I chose to get a “missionary degree” – an M.A. in Intercultural Studies. Then I used my gradu-ate work – not just in the classroom, but on the field. I headed in my new, stark-white uniform to the Dominican Republic to serve with The Salvation Army there for a year and a half.

Okay, maybe you’re asking “Then what?” Yes, it’s true that I haven’t been on the mission field in six years. But, on the other hand, God has really shown me what it means to make missions a lifestyle, not a fading fad. It’s a daily part of who I am. It affects how I choose to spend my money. How I think about the material blessings in my life. And how I continue to minister to those who live in poverty, both material and spiritual.

It seems a new fad is on the horizon. The hot topic of “missions” has phased into the catch phrase in ministry: “social justice.” As you hear about those who live with injustice and what your role is in the fight, don’t let it be a fad. Fads fade. Let it flow through you – and become a lifeblood in you – so that missions, social justice, or whatever other current “fad” that’s in the air is part of your daily walk of obedience to Jesus Christ.

Fading Fads…or Lack of Obedience?by Cari Arias

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Take a piece of iron, shape it through fire and toil and place it on the raw flesh of an animal. That’s branding. It’s a pretty painful process. So is branding your church. However, in both cases, it leaves an indelible impression that deepens a sense of belonging and sets one apart.

I can hear the shrieks of horror. I know, I actually said “church” and “branding” in the same sentence. If you think marketing is a controversial word in the church world, try talking about brand-ing. The reality is that branding is critical for your church. A well-branded church is one that is current and attractive, where people are proud to attend, where they feel connected and they see the vision clearly. Modern branding is not just about slapping a logo on something; it’s about making the vision plain for all to see. It demonstrates a sense of who you are and where you are going as a church. The pure essence of branding is communicating the es-sence of who you are in all you do.

Allow me a moment to dispel the concept of branding and break it down. What is a brand? To the person outside the organization, it is the perception of what the organization stands for and is all about. We trust the name, Dell. We feel safe in a Volvo. We feel hip if we have an iPod. We believe in the longevity of Craftsman tools. A brand has meaning. A well executed brand has the precise meaning that the organization desires us to embrace.

In a similar way, all churches have their own brands whether they know it or not. Some are appealing and some are repugnant. Church “A” might be the church where all the upper-class people go. Church “B” is that “seeker church” that does not go very deep. Church “C” is that flamboyant church where the services last for three hours. Every church has a brand—every church has a vibe within its community. What are some of the “brands” of church in the community around you? What is your brand? Are you com-municating it effectively? You might say that a church that no one knows about is without a brand—nope, its Church “D”—the church that no one knows about. (Be leery of that one!)

So if a brand is how you are perceived, then just what is branding? It is the use of design and communications consistency over time to create a deliberate impression. Design plays a part; architecture plays a part; communications play a part; and church culture plays a part. If you are being strategic, the line between who you are as a church and your target audience becomes the plumb line for your communication and your brand.

To be effective with branding you have to integrate your look and your message into every touch point you have with people. Go to your local Cadillac dealership, soak in the atmosphere and then

grab every brochure you can find. Now, go to a Saturn dealership and do the same. Guess what? Cadillac stuff looks and feels like Cadillac stuff and not like Saturn stuff. Now go one step further… Go into your church and pretend you were seeing it for the first time—grab all of your handouts, fliers, bulletins and brochures. What story do they tell about you? What about your signage, your website, your foyer? What message are you consistently sending? Is it cohesive or is it hodge-podge? Wondering why no one knows what to think about you and struggling to get people to follow the vision? You have to make it plain when you set it before their eyes (Habakkuk 2:2).

Why then, do we have six different logos and fourteen different layouts and six paper types and nine color schemes? Why is our website outdated and unrelated to everything else? Do we not real-ize how much time and money we would save if we just chose “our style” and “our logo” and stick with it? Why are we re-inventing the wheel over and over?

One of the reasons branding is not utilized in the church is because it forces us to take a determined stance on who we are. It is risky. Branding is essentially a highly concentrated use of communica-tion. It has only one downside. To the extent a well-crafted brand can assist in growth, an un-strategic or even poorly aimed brand can keep people away and even disassociate your members. I’ve seen it happen!

So how do you create a branding strategy and ultimately a brand that is truly effective? This is a portion of the process we walk through with churches as we help them to establish a branding strategy.

First, become determined. Branding does not just happen. It will require a major commitment. It takes setting your sails hard. It re-quires a sense of integrity (consistency). It requires knowing who you are and who you are trying to reach. It requires making deci-sions with short and long term goals in tact.

Second, make sure you connect. If you are not achieving at least a 10% growth rate before you start your branding initiatives, you might have issues with connecting. If your members are not ac-tively inviting people, or visitors are not staying, there are reasons why that have nothing to do with design. Advertising and branding will not help a church in this position; it will only expose the dis-connection between you and the outside world—causing visitors not to return and to tell all their friends to avoid your church.

Third, renew a commitment to the lost in your community. You start with who you are trying to reach. What do they think about

you church? If you want to affect what they think, you have to know it. What are there needs—perceived and real? Where do they shop? What do they eat? What do they wear? What are their challenges and their successes? You need demographic informa-tion on them, but it won’t suffice. You actually have to learn their lifestyles well enough to “become as one” as Paul challenges us to (1 Corinthians 9:20).

Fourth, know your strengths and your weaknesses. Remember, man looks on the outside. If you do not take stock in what you have been showing people—the good and the bad, you will not know the basis for how to connect with people. This means know-ing who you are most adept at reaching in this season of your church. This is not being “exclusive”. Be like Paul. He was “all things to all people”, but he was also the “Apostle unto the Gen-tiles”. Know when to be broad in your reach, and know when to communicate to the red hot center of those with whom you have influence.

Fifth, connect the dots. The successful brand for you lies on the bridge between who you are as a church and the people you are called to reach. Make sure your communication does not abandon who you have been. You need to hold the hand of yesterday while you reach out for tomorrow. If you don’t, you will disassociate your congregation and confuse those around you.

Sixth, gain an external perspective. You will be more accurate if you enlist third party assistance in determining your branding strategy. Why? “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). God and the precious believers around us know our hearts—but the outside world does not—it is their very nature to look on the outside. What this means is that it is nearly impossible to self evaluate how people see you. You are too close to the action. You see your intentions; they only see your follow-through. To look at your church “on the outside”, you need the help of outsiders.

Whether you realize it or not, your church’s marketing materials tell a story. They are windows into your culture and tell us what you value. They are not always read, but they are always evalu-ated. Are your materials telling the story that is on your heart? Are they conveying the experience with excellence? Are they rel-evant to me as an outsider? What do they communicate to the unchurched? The mischurched? The member? The staff? What do they say about you? Is it consistent? Do you really know who you are and who you are called to reach? Do you know what to tell them? Are you doing it in everything you do? Define it. Design it. Train it. Maintain it.

The vision was to reach 7- to 12-year-old kids in the community. One league would be 7- and 8- year olds, another 9- to10-year-olds and then ages 11 and 12. Flyers were sent to all elementary schools in the county for each child to take home. The first year the program was a success! The teams were filled, and all coaches and referees were volunteers.

“We targeted this age group because we knew parents would not only bring their children but probably stay and get involved. We wanted whole families to become involved,” said Captain Collette Webster, then corps officer.

While preparations for the league were being made in the community center, the league was being promoted with gusto within the corps. The Websters explained that this was an evangelistic tool and encouraged corps members to get involved. The corps people responded incredibly, sitting in the stands with parents and getting their own kids enrolled in the leagues.

Captain Bob Webster was also heavily involved, attending almost every game. Three nights a week he made sure the league ran smoothly, refereed, helped coach the coaches, ran draft nights, worked in the concession stand and mingled with the crowd.

After the first year four families started coming to the corps. The second, third and fourth years saw even more growth. Each year teams were added, another day during the week for games was instituted and a waiting list for the league was begun. The third year the city presented the Army with the “Spirit of Port Huron Award” for excellence.

Now, four years later the program is still going strong. At the end of each year an awards banquet is held. The junior band plays, the singing company sings, the gospel is presented and a fun slide show of the season is shown. Every child in the program

Enter His Gates With Thanksgiving And His Courts With PraiseFOUR YEARS AGO A VISION BECAME A REALITY AT THE PORT HURON, MICH., CORPS. CAPTAIN ROBERT

WEBSTER, THEN CORPS OFFICER, HAD AN IDEA TO START A BASKETBALL PROGRAM AT THE CORPS.

WHILE IT MAY NOT BE NOVEL, WHAT HAS HAPPENED WITH THE LEAGUE IS UNIQUE AND EXCITING.

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gets a trophy and a few special ones such as the season and tournament champions for each league, are presented. In addition, someone from each league receives the “Most Christlike Award” which includes a trophy, Bible and coupon for a free week at day camp.

The first two years the banquet was held at the corps with more than 500 participants. The third year the league had grown so large it had to be split into two banquets.

“While we wanted to keep it at the corps last year, the banquet was so large it had to be held at a high school. Now, we have a banner in the gym inviting people to worship with us and listing the times of our services,” says Collette.

Each year children attending the banquet are invited to learn to play an instrument and join the beginners’ band or singing company. As a result, the band has tripled and singing company has doubled!

In all aspects of the program evangelism is prominent. There’s prayer before each game. If someone in the stands is too vocal a person from the corps sits by the fan and strikes up a conversation to remind him or her what the league is about.

In four years 15 new families have become a permanent part of the corps and they’ve brought friends and other family members. Some league members are now involved in other corps programs. Many new family members have taken on leadership

responsibilities in the corps and become soldiers such as the Baker family who are now helping to run the league and keeping the evangelistic vision alive.

The Bakers initially responded to the flyer sent to their three daughters’ school. Though they attended another church at the time they decided to give the corps a try after continually being invited. They’ve never looked back.

“We were really surprised to learn that The Salvation Army was a church,” says Debbie Baker. “We loved the kids programs and right away were asked to get involved. It was so important for us to give our time to God and use the gifts He’s given us. The corps gave us the perfect opportunity.”

Debbie and Don are senior soldiers and vital leaders throughout the corps. Debbie leads junior soldiers and corps cadets and Don serves as corps sergeant-major. They also regularly attend Bible study. Their girls, Shelby, Courtney and Sarah, have been enrolled as junior soldiers and are involved in most youth programs including beginners’ band and singing company.

“Our girls can’t wait to get to the corps and be with their friends. They have such a sense of belonging and feel really comfortable here,” says Debbie. On any given week during basketball season there are approximately 600 people in the corps building. And the people of the Port Huron Corps are passionate to win them for

Christ.

“We’re trying to show people in the community that The Salvation Army is more than an organization or red kettle, we’re a church, and you’re always welcome. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’ve come from or what you’ve done. You’re always welcome,” says Debbie.

The Lord has blessed this program and corps. There are four crucial elements involved in the program’s success. One, it was never meant to be just a basketball league but an avenue for evangelism. Two, the corps people supported it, got involved and built crucial relationships. Three, the corps officers were involved and supported it not just verbally but physically; ministering to people was always the priority. Four, and most importantly, it was bathed in prayer.

“One Sunday morning a senior bandsman told me that they were looking out into the congregation and realized they did not know half of the people,” says Major Collette, “I need to get busy and start meeting some of these new people.”

Majors Bob and Collette Webster are presently stationed Central Territorial Headquarters as the Territorial Youth Leaders.

Ricardo Walters is our small group facilitator this week and works as the coordinator of The Sal-vation Army Africa Regional Facilitation Team in community capacity development/Integrated Mission. To help us all better understand this new movement of youth in the world, we include the following statement which came out of the International Youth Capacity Development Con-

sultation which took place in Mizoram, India the summer of 2004.

STATEMENT INTERNATIONAL YOUTH CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT CONSULTATION

24th – 27th July 2004

‘Let’s go outside, where Jesus is, where the action is – not trying to be privileged insiders…this “insider world” is not our home. We have our eyes peeled for the City about to come. Let’s take our place outside with Jesus’Hebrews 13:13-14 (The Message)

As part of the Salvation Army family and recognizing the potential of this international organization for leadership and mission we, the youth, have the desire to use our capacity to be a part of the transformation and reconciliation process between cultures, families and generations, both in communities in society, and in the broader Salvation Army organisational community.

The growing experience of Christian young people - predominantly in India, Latin America, Africa and Asia Pacific – who are confidently engaged in response to concerns including HIV/AIDS, drugs, trafficking, violence and civil un-rest shows that families and neighbourhoods can respond to these issues of life and that the Christian Church can also respond in appropriate ways by facilitating that response and supporting it to expand through ongoing relationship.

Our desire is to go beyond intervention and to stimulate others to take part in the process of integrated mission within society and The Salvation Army, where “integrated mission” is the act of deliberately integrating ourselves into the liv-ing experience of people in the world. It is about our belief in the strengths of youth who, even in the midst of pain, suffering, and loss, are able to encounter Grace and make their own response, with hope for their future.

“…the Army in its earliest days was predominantly a youth movement……and much of the growth and innovation of those early days can be put down, in human terms, to the energy, creativity and idealism of youth.” (General John Larsson, message to i-YCD delegates). In this same spirit, young Salvationists can and will continue to act confidently and competently for visionary influence in the world and in The Salvation Army, present and future.

We affirm that in all situations it is the Love of God that compels us to stand alongside people, and it is the power of the Holy Spirit that allows transformation in humanity.

July 2004

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Be sure to visit the 24/7 Prayer Room located at the Mt. Crags campfire pit.

Contrary to what most people might think, multimedia is not a new avenue for com-munication. Today, rather than simply having a written or spoken word, tech-nology allows us to enhance our message with graphics that grab, sounds that stimu-late, and video that visually transports the viewer into the message. Ease of use and lowering cost of technology have brought us to the point where any message can be accompanied with a PowerPoint pre-sentation. The advent of web-logs, com-monly referred to as “blogs,” and now podcasting have given even moderately tech-savvy people with something to say (and frequently some with nothing to say) the means with which to literally reach a worldwide audience. Using all of these new advances in technology we can cre-ate a cornucopia of stimulation that makes people sit up and say “WOW, what a great show!” However, any time we put these tools to use, we run the risk of our mes-sage getting lost in the razzle dazzle of the media.

Even with all our modern advances in technology, we are still chasing the best example the world has ever seen of using multimedia to effectively deliver a mem-orable message. In spite of all our giga-bytes of RAM, terabytes of memory, and high-definition video capabilities, we are even now trying to catch up with a pioneer who was clearly ahead of his time. This trailblazer in the field of communication knew how to deliver a message that would be remembered. His straight-forward, un-complicated method was to communicate through a symphony of the senses, creat-ing a wonderfully crafted orchestration of sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste.

On one occasion he gathered his hungry students in a small candlelit room. As they sat in the warm glow of the illumi-nated area sharing in conversation, their eyes were gently drawn to him as he took a piece of bread and gave thanks. One by one, their fingers felt the ragged edges of the torn bread as he passed the broken

pieces among them. The comforting aroma encompassed them as they lifted it to their lips to savor. The composition of the mes-sage was made complete when his students heard him say, “This is my body, which is given for you.” In the simple stillness of a small room, without computers, cables, or even electricity, a message was delivered that we still remember today, over 2,000 years later. That’s multimedia!

Most people are confused about just what multimedia is. As we see in the above ex-ample, it’s more than just audio amplifica-tion and lyrics flashed on the screen. What we really mean when we say multimedia is “multi-sensory.” Each of our senses is like a receiving door, through which infor-mation is passed. Our senses are the only way we can receive information from the outside world; if something doesn’t make it through one of those doors, it doesn’t make it into our heads. Therefore, if we as communicators want to ensure the best possible chance that our message is re-tained, we need to target as many of those

Multimedia and MinistryUsing Modern Means to Communicate a Timeless Truth

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doors simultaneously as possible. Jesus knew that the more senses he included in delivering his message of hope for salva-tion, the more likely his audience would be to understand and accept that message.

This brings us to today’s church, and why we feel it’s so important that multimedia play a role. Let’s look at another example. Think for a minute about a TV commercial that you’ve seen recently for a hamburger. It doesn’t matter which one, as I’m sure you’ve seen plenty. Contained within any given hamburger commercial are several different forms of media. Sound and video, obviously; but in all likelihood, the com-mercial also showed someone picking up that hamburger, so you the viewer can re-member what a hamburger feels like. Then the person in the commercial will no doubt take a big bite. This too is designed to help you recall the taste of a hamburger, in the hopes that you will then want to go out and buy one right now. If Smell-a-Vision had been invented yet, you can be sure they’d be taking advantage of your fifth sense too! All these different senses are being accessed at the same time, all of which support their message: you want a hamburger. If so much care is taken to craft a message about a hamburger, how much more important is it for us, the church, to spend the same amount of time and thoughtfulness to craft our message—life’s most important mes-sage—for the world? If we as the church fail to keep up, we run the risk of becoming culturally obscure and irrelevant.

It was with this thought in mind that the leadership of the Western Territory set out to change the Salvation Army’s approach to multimedia on a territorial level by putting together the Territorial Multimedia Team. This is significant in that as far as anyone knows, this is the first time a religious orga-nization has set about to improve the way multimedia is created and implemented on a corporate level. For rather than just being a production entity, hired to produce vid-eos, audio recordings, and live events, the THQ Multimedia Team has much loftier goals. Not only does the team aim to help divisions and corps learn how to create and more effectively implement multimedia into their ministry, but they also want to help people understand that the creation and delivery of appropriate multimedia should be seen as a ministry. Just as playing in

a band or singing in a songster brigade is viewed as ministry, so should the running of the soundboard and coordinating projec-tion of video be seen as an opportunity for personal ministry as well.

To that end, the ultimate goal of the THQ Multimedia Team is to see implemented at each corps, a Multimedia Ministry Team, which meets and is held in the same regard as any other group which contributes to the weekly worship services. Our hope is that by meeting regularly and being kept in the loop in regards to the kind of multimedia needed each week, worship services will run smoother, important behind-the-scenes tasks won’t be left to whoever happens to be around, and people will be provided with opportunities for service that don’t solely involve musical talent. Additionally, we’ll be ensuring that our message of salvation is being delivered in the most effective and culturally-relevant way possible.

It needs to be said that the THQ Multime-dia Team is by no means advocating any-thing as drastic as the wholesale removal of Salvation Army Songbooks or Bibles from Sunday morning meetings in favor of pro-jected lyrics and scripture passages. Quite the contrary, in fact. Oftentimes there is no better way to set the mood for a meet-ing than to allow people to be physically involved in the meeting by reaching for their Bibles, feeling the tissue-paper pages between their fingers, and listening as those around them rustle the pages looking for a particular passage of scripture. That’s all multimedia too, and as long as we’re inten-tional about how we use it, there’s no right or wrong answer for how to implement multimedia into ministry.

The good news is, there are many corps around the territory that are already tak-ing steps in this direction. About half of all corps in the territory currently use a video projector in some capacity in support of their worship services. Still others use overhead projectors (and yes, that counts as multimedia too!). Many corps have a audio tape ministry of some kind, and a handful have begun podcasting the recordings of their worship services (see sidebar), expos-ing their message to a worldwide audience. Many also maintain their own websites.The THQ Multimedia Team exists first and foremost to be a resource to the field. We

encourage anyone, regardless of experi-ence or expertise, who has interest in this area to get in touch with us with your ques-tions, concerns, or multimedia needs. We are available to lead workshops or training sessions for groups of all ages and skill lev-els; we can provide consultative services for the purchase or upgrade of audio and video equipment in corps facilities; we’ll do our best to answer any questions you might have, and if we don’t know, we’ll find someone who does. Our aim in the next year is to conduct several “Multime-dia Kitchens” in various locations around the territory. If you are interested in host-ing one of these events, please feel free to contact us. Above all, we hope you catch the vision of our hopes for multimedia in the territory, and will continue to seek out new ways to deliver to the lost life’s most important message.

The THQ Multimedia Team is comprised of Josh Cowing and Richard Brown. They can be reached at, respectively, josh_cow-ing@usw.salvationarmy.org and richard_brown@usw.salvationarmy.org.

If we as the church fail to keep up, we run the risk of becoming culturally obscure and irrelevant.

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Rosalie DoomSan Diego CitadelSierra Del Mar

How long have you been in youth ministry? 50 years

What’s a memorable experience from your childhood in church? I remember a girl named Amber. She was such a disruption to Guards I wished she would just leave. But the more I prayed about her and her situ-ation the Lord told me not to give up and stand true. She was the thorn in my side but she turned out to be a beautiful rose. She sent me a letter when she moved and gradu-ated from high school and thanked me and God for always standing by her. Needless to say that made my week. So I know that I can’t give up on anyone because God did not give up on me.

Who influenced you as a child? How? My Corps Cadet Counselor, Donna Warner. She was always there when things went wrong at home and school. I have sent her many let-ters thanking her for her faithfulless to us all.

What made you get into youth ministry in the first place? I have 5 children and they needed to be in programs that could give them more than things that were offered at school and to keep them out of trouble.

Where would you like to see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? Retired and on a cruise boat. I would like to be able to do the pro-grams and things that I have not been able to do and to support our young people.

What is your favorite Army youth pro-gram? Why? Girl Guards. I think this is a valuable tool that a lot of people skip over. It is such a good program that I wish more girls could participate and have a good leader to help them reach higher goals. There is mate-rial there and you don’t have to reinvent to wheel.

What concerns you most about current youth culture? This is the ME generation that I see and they don’t reach out to other youth. Our youth are living such different lives than what I did as a youth. They have a lot of earthly things to distract them from the word of God.

Lorrie DavisGresham CorpsCascade

How long have you been in youth ministry? 15 years total. 11 years in Gresham.

What’s your favorite part about youth ministry? The Youth! Getting to be a part of their lives and speaking truth into their everyday life. I just love hanging out with them. I love listening to them and discuss-ing how to get through their struggles and triumphs and honor God and remind them how much He loves them.

What is your greatest struggle/heart-break in youth ministry? My heart breaks when youth walk away from God and the church. I also have a really hard time when the youth are going through awful things at home.

How would you describe your relation-ship with your youth? I love them. They love me most of the time. Occasionally they may not like me much but they always know I love them- because I show and tell them. I try to be a pretty big part of their life, I know their parents, siblings, neigh-bors anyone who is significant in their life. That’s the best part of what I do, getting to know amazing kids and trying to strengthen the support systems in their life. Just living everyday life and pointing them in every-thing to God.

Where do you go to or how do you refresh yourself spiritually? I love to hike. I live just a few minutes from the Columbia River Gorge and it is amazingly beautiful. I find myself driving up there often. Sometimes I hike and sometimes I just sit and sing and pray and listen. I also love to go to the ocean but it’s a bit far to go often or on a whim.

How did you come to be a part of the Army? My mom came in for a food box when I was a baby. She found out about the programs and that they would send a van for us. We started coming every time the van would come and get us.

YOUTH WORKERSPOTLIGHT

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Who has invested in you?

When I was 14 the youth leader at my corps asked me to go to a youth leaders training event. I was shy, had a terrible self image problem and really did not understand why he asked me. But I still remember what I learned that day: I did not believe in myself but someone believed in me. Because of that my life was changed.

Over the years since then, I have seen ten principles that lead to effective youth ministry.

1. Believe in people. Believe in the kids and the leaders. Believe God has a purpose for them and that your job is to help them discover it. When people look down on you it can be crushing, but when someone believes in you it is energizing and it brings the best out in you. It is the same with kids under your care.

2. Youth ministry that works is youth ministry that gets youth involved in ministry.

Regardless of their age, kids want to be part of something meaningful and excit-ing. We cannot compete with the en-tertainment of the world, but we can get kids excited about ministry by getting them involved and creating ownership. Allowing them to participate in the planning and execution of the ministry will change your life and theirs. They will invite friends. Discipline issues will be less frequent, and your kids will become natural recruiters for the youth program because they “own” it. If you want to know what kids want, let them plan it. Of course if their idea costs, they will also need to plan how to raise the money for it. 3. In your leadership team there is a place for everyone and everyone has a place. Youth ministry has many parts to it: the program, the food, the transpor-tation, the follow-up, keeping track of birthdays, visitation and meeting parents, planning special events and trips, specialty things like music and drama, meeting your Child Safety ratio, and of course there are just friendly adults that show an interest. And the list continues: the constant need

for prayer warriors who pray for the kids, their families and the leaders; the financiers; and, of course, let’s not forget the clean-up and set-up people. There is also always room for a grandparent figure, or the like. Not everyone can be the up-front person, or even relate to the kids, but everyone can love them and everyone can do something to help. So--with the exception of those who fail their child safety background check, of course--never pigeon-hole someone and say “Oh, they could never be involved in youth ministry!” “They are too old….they are too young….they are too….” I bet they can help somewhere. It is just a matter of finding out where they best fit.

4. We must have relational-based programming.

We need to be loved and know that peo-ple care, and kids are no different. You can have the best program in the world, but if you don’t love or care for the kids they will stop coming and their parents will stop sending them. Programs are essential, but they are pointless without genuine relationships.

5. A genuine, loving spirit will win

10 Time-Tested Principlesby: Captain Kyle Smith

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over even the toughest kids.Kids don’t hate adults; they look up to them. They may push the boundaries but that does not mean they disrespect you, it often means they want your attention, they like you…it’s crazy, but true. When kids see you love them and that you make time for them, they will eventually be your greatest ally…it just may take a little time. 6. Make the most with what you’ve got.

We can all complain about what we don’t have, what we wished we had. It could be money, more kids, facilities, more help, or more abilities and talent. But the good news is God has given us what we have, and when we have an attitude of gratitude we will feel a lot better. There is the parable of the tal-ents, which says when we use what we have, God will give us more. I believe that is true, but that is not the reason to make the most of what you’ve got. The real reason is that you will be a lot hap-pier, and if you are a lot happier so will everyone else around you. And that, my friends, is contagious.

7. Ministry to youth involves their

families.Effective youth ministry involves fam-ily…long after you have come and gone in the life of your students, their fami-lies will still remain. Over the years, no matter where I have been in youth ministry one factor has remained the same. As a rule, the kids that became adults and remained in the corps were those who had another family member connected with the corps. It may have been a brother, a sister, a parent, or even an aunt, uncle or grandparent, but there was more often than not a family member that was involved in the corps. Remember in youth ministry, your kids are not really “your kids,” they are their parents’ kids. Get the parents involved and you have a much higher chance of keeping the kids. Do not buy into the lie that parents are not interested in their kids, or that you care more than they do. The best thing you can do is work on connecting other family mem-bers to your corps ministry.

8. Visiting kids and their family changes your relationship for the bet-ter.

When you visit someone at home it says a lot. There seems to be a feeling these

days that visitation is old-fashioned. Visitation seems impractical, risky, and time-consuming. Whatever the reason for not visiting, the benefits of showing up, feeling awkward and facing the fear of rejection far outweighs any visitation issues you may have. If you show up and tell a parent, “I love your kids--you must be proud of them,” and then ask them what can you do to help…the majority will be amazed, even shocked. Offering to keep them in your prayers or even praying with them right there on the spot, especially the non-church-goers, does make a difference. Visita-tion builds strong relationships, and I might add when the kids know you know their parents, it also can be a big help with discipline. 9. Van pickups are one of the best forms of ministry. Now before some of you say “what-ever!” let me back this up. As a corps youth worker I decided to research the membership rolls in the corps and see if I could track down some of the kids that had stopped coming in the last five years. You can imagine my surprise when I realized that the majority of kids who were no longer coming were

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those that lived close to the corps. What I did notice was that those kids who spent about 20 minutes or more in a van were still involved. There could be many factors but the one common denominator was that these kids all knew their van drivers, and had grown to love them…even the grumpy ones. Never underestimate the power and ministry potential of a van driver. In fact, the very reason kids come to your youth programs could be because of the friendship they have developed with their driver. A van driver by his or her very action of driving week after week says, “I care about you.” It is a power-ful message. I take my hat off to all van drivers and thank God for them. There are many van drivers who are the unsung heroes of The Salvation Army. 10. You need God.

Don’t forget God. It is so easy to get so busy meeting other people’s needs and worry-ing about the spiritual conditions of oth-ers that you forget about your relationship with God. God does not want workers, He wants worshipers. A worker does what he does out of duty, to get paid, to earn his way into heaven. A worker can feel undervalued, over-worked and even get bitter. A worship-er loves God, and loves to be around God, loves to serve God and loves to be around His friends. Their service is not a burden, it is a joy. Don’t forget God, worship God, and you will have joy in ministry.

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Quick Facts about Trinity International University • Located in Deerfield, IL only 25 miles north of Chicago and within close proximity to the future Kroc Center in south Chicago.

• Offers 28 relevant majors including Education, Athletic Training, Communications, English, Business, & Music

• Top Comprehensive National University as ranked by US News and World Report

• Home to 900 students from 25 states and 8 countries

• Small classrooms with a 13:1 Student/Faculty ratio

• Dual Degree programs in Intercultural Ministries and Bioethics

Financial Facts about Trinity International University

• All Salvation Army Corps members receive a guaranteed $11,000 in TIU financial aid

• All children of Salvation Army Officers receive $12,000 in TIU financial aid

• Many Trinity students receive state and federal money in addition to TIU financial aid

Application Fee will be waived if application is submitted or postmarked by December 15, 2007.

Contact Information:Admissions: 1-800-822-3225.

Web Address: www.tiu.eduAddress: 2065 Half Day Road, Deerfield, IL 60015

Contact Information:Admissions: 1-800-822-3225.

Web Address: www.tiu.eduAddress: 2065 Half Day Road, Deerfield, IL 60015

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