My Experience as Youth Pastor

I originally posted this back in November. I am just now getting around to preaching this series. I posted a sermon I preached on my Sermon Blast blog. Someone asked if it was something I preached to the Youth. Unfortunately it was not. We don't have recording equipment in the Youth building. Well technically I took the CDR from the Youth Building to the sanctuary because we didn't even have it hooked up. I found it by accident while looking for something else. Anyways, I try to never preach down to the students so what I preach to them is only a little different from what I will preach to the church. There are two main differences. First I tend to use a lot of YouTube videos and other things like that. The other reason is based on attention span. I might have planned that same sermon for the Youth but would have broken it into two or three parts and preached those parts as a series.

The following is a pretty good example of what I preach to my Youth. This isn't word for word but gets the high points. Some additions or explanations are in red.

How to not survive a nuclear bomb

50s TV announcer dude (5TAD): Hey Timmy, how are you today?

Timmy: Fine I guess.

5TAD: What has you down there young man?

Timmy: Well I heard something about the Soviets planning on blowing us all up with nuclear bombs.

5TAD: Timmy, don't worry, if you follow these simple rules you can survive when the reds attack.

First, always carry a newspaper. It may not seem like much but our top scientist have reinforced your common newspaper with special ink to protect you from radiation.

Second, always know where your fallout shelters are located. You should cover your head with the news paper and go to your closest fallout shelter.

Third, get under your desk or up against a wall at school. Those desks have the same nuclear proof ink to protect our nation's children.

Timmy, if you follow these simple rules you can be safe in any nuclear disaster.

Timmy: Gee thanks Mr. Announcer Dude.

I actually read this using voices for the characters. I thought it would be funny and did get some good laughs although I did get more laughs later when for some reason I got distracted and started quoting Charlie the Unicorn and the Banana King.

 I'm pretty sure that is an accurate transcript from a 50 public awareness broadcast. These are some of the rules about dealing with nuclear attacks. I still see fallout shelter signs everywhere. The Bible College I worked at had one down in the basement of one of the buildings. Sure this room was behind a locked door and sure it was full of dangerous chemicals and had huge natural gas lines running through the room, but it also had a nice sign letting all in the know that it was the place to be if someone dropped the bomb on the city. Of course it was BYOS, that is bring your own supplies. No water, food, or first aid stuff so hopefully you remember to bring what you will need for a few years. Of course it was still better than a lot of other shelters I've seen. Some are open on three or even 4 sides. The slightest breeze would blow fallout into the shelter.

I think this is a good example of how we setup refuges in our life. We have places in our life we go to when things get big bad and scary, but those places aren't ever as safe as they look. We don't have the resources to try and survive while hiding out and we often find ourselves hiding behind a wall we setup to keep others away only to get stabbed from behind because there was nothing to cover out backside.

I think God wants to setup real places of refuge for us. Like the shelter from Blast from the Past. Well stocked and very safe. He wants us to find refuge with others so we can bear each other up and most of all He wants us to find refuge in Him. He is like Helm's Deep, or Minas Tirith, a fortress that has never been breached. The only way the enemy can strike us in the refuge of His wings is if we walk out of that safe place to try and find a safer place own our own.

I switched this up after the fact pointing out how these places failed and how in Blast from the Past the family in the shelter wasn't prepared for reality. I felt this really set things up for the main point and conclusion better.

   Psalm 91

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
       will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
       my God, in whom I trust."

Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare
       and from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with his feathers,
       and under his wings you will find refuge;
       his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

You will not fear the terror of night,
       nor the arrow that flies by day,

nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
       nor the plague that destroys at midday.

A thousand may fall at your side,
       ten thousand at your right hand,
       but it will not come near you.

You will only observe with your eyes
       and see the punishment of the wicked.

If you make the Most High your dwelling—
       even the LORD, who is my refuge-

 then no harm will befall you,
       no disaster will come near your tent.

 For he will command his angels concerning you
       to guard you in all your ways;

 they will lift you up in their hands,
       so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
       you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him;
       I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

 He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
       I will be with him in trouble,
       I will deliver him and honor him.

 With long life will I satisfy him
       and show him my salvation."

The main point and conclusion are tied together after this. I set the passage up by talking about David and how he never had a place of refuge. You can figure out the details if you are familiar with David. The short version is that he faced the lion, the bear, and Goliath with only his sling and Saul turned on him as did nearly every ally he ever had so that any place of refuge he had was lost. He found his shelter in God alone and we can also. When we are in that place where nothing is working and we feel completely alone God can be our peace. We need to have a relationship with God if we expect that kind of peace.

I shared a bit more than this but this should get you an idea of what I preach to my Youth.

Labels: youth service