3 Things Youth Workers Need to be Good At

How much training have you given to your youth leaders? Do your youth volunteers lead "youth meetings" or do they lead people? Here are three simple things that can help them be more effective as youth leaders.

Followup
Who needs a call back this week? What email has been sitting in the bottom of your inbox that needs a reply? What made it on your task list, but sits there with persistence week after week? Who did you promise something to, but haven’t delivered on? Follow-up is a scare commodity in our fast-paced, disorganized world.

Thank yous
Who needs a note from you this week? Can you crank out a couple emails that would mean the world to people who receive them? Who did something for you that needs to be appreciated? Build this into your routine of the week, or chances are you’re unintentionally burning bridges behind you if you say nothing after the ask.

Affirmation
To me this is different than thank yous – thank yous are for people who have given you something and need to be appreciated for something they did. Affirmation is for who someone is. It is an appreciation of their legacy and character that is making an impact. Affirmation is also ultra powerful way to build up someone’s self-esteem.

Take a second and create a short list of people who need one of these actions this week.

Grandparenting: Ready or Not Here We Come

I think I can honestly say that I've never been completely prepared for any phase of life I've been through. Whether it's been marriage, being a parent, raising teens, kids leaving home, kids getting married, or whatever, each has come with a clear sense of "What's in store for us now?" Don't look now, but I'm at that place again.

On Tuesday, September 1 our son Seth and daughter-in-law Shannon, welcomed into the world their first child, Adara Lynn Hein. She is absolutely gorgeous, as you can see for yourself. With this beautiful girl comes the next phase of life, grandparent-hood.

Over the years I have heard strange rumors of perfectly normal adults going through some kind of wild metamorphosis as they pass through the tunnel of becoming a grandparent. Fiscally responsible people all of a sudden throw out the budget in light of a new bundle of joy. Health-conscious do-gooders travel down grocery store aisles filling their shopping cart with items they previously cursed for years, all because of a little voice that says, "Can I have that grandma?" People who haven't been to a garage sale in years are all of a sudden scanning the Thursday edition of the local newspaper in hopes of finding a garage sale add that contains the magic words, "Baby clothes".

It's yet to be determined whether Gayle or I will succumb to such wild transformation. However, one thing we are certain of at this point of life and and that is that God is good. We are humbled and at times perplexed by His everlasting love and grace. That God would send His Son, Jesus to die in our place on the cross, for our sin has always been a mystery to us. We are fully convinced that there was nothing within us that merited such action. But for this life-changing grace we are eternally grateful. And it is in His grace that we continue to trust. Therefore, we can say with all confidence, "Grandparenting Here We Come!"