Imagine this:

You slave over a hot sermon all week long. Rather than let it reach its peak on Sunday Morning, you decide that a sermon is best when it lands in the discussions of the congregation. You type a few discussion questions based on the sermon and post them on your church website or Facebook page (which would probably be better). Then, you go to a website such as www.qrstuff.com or any one of the hundreds of other free QR Barcode generator sites, and create a QR Barcode for you discussion questions. Then, you print that barcode in your bulletin. The people of your church who want to be a part of a dialogue about the sermon scan the barcode during church (let’s be honest, people are multi-taskers today), go to the website, and post comments and questions. Suddenly, your sermon is interactive! No more worrying if your sermon fell flat. You can know instantly!

The slogan for MinistryMall.org is “Translating the Gospel for the Digital World.” This does not mean youth. It means anyone that has the internet, a smart phone, or any desire to do anything the way things are done today. I dare you to try this with your Sunday sermons and see what happens. You may find that your potential for leading your congregation through the Scriptures just grew exponentially.

Variety is the spice of life and we want to help. We know people. You need people. Let’s get together. If you need help finding someone from outside your bubble to give your camp or retreat something different, contact us at info@youthframeworks.com.

I recently started helping with the 5-6 graders at my church. In using the curriculum that was chosen, I have finally pinpointed the issue I have with most curriculum for young people, be it children or teens.

The 90′s has been hailed the decade of the youth group. Youth groups existed before the 90′s, but this decade really saw a large up-tick in the popularity of camps, conferences, curriculum and music. The Youth Group became its very own clique. With this wave of excitement came the pressure to see movement in the spiritual lives of young people. Fast forward 10 years, and we see an endless pool of curriculum that either teaches topical lessons with no real point or deep lessons on deep subjects with no real connection to a systematic study of the Bible.

With no effort at all, someone could go to the nearest Bible Bookstore and purchase an in-depth study on the Holy Spirit for teenagers. This series will come standard with videos, games, and other assorted extras. The Youth Minister says to himself, “If only these kids understood the workings of the Holy Spirit, they would be changed.” He buys this series, and off he goes. However, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit was never designed to be a stand-alone series.

In my Wednesday Night class, that I really enjoy, we are learning about Heaven. We learned how Heaven is described in the Bible last week. This week, we learned how one goes to Heaven. As part of a side story, I asked the students to explain the actions of Judas Iscariot. No one could say. Learning about Heaven is great. Learning how to get to Heaven is great. Having to take a 15 minute aside to explain one of the major characters of the Gospel story to a bunch of hard core church kids is not great.

This is the product of too much difference making. In our efforts to make a difference in the lives of young people every single week, we have forgotten one thing. We will not make a difference in the lives of young people every single week! Some lessons are just informational. Some lessons are just histories. Some lessons are exciting and will effect change, while others may be a snooze fest. We need to lower our standards and raise our standards. We must forget the requirement to see deep spiritual change every church session while fully expecting our young people to understand the entire Bible systematically.

Some questions to consider:

-How many of your students can name the books of the Bible?

-How many know the first three kings of Israel?

-How many know about Judas Iscariot?

-How many know how Jesus and David are connected?

-How many know the connection to the Old Testament Sacrifices and the Crucifixion?

-How many can show Scripturally how to be saved? (I had a kid tell me I was wrong because I showed them Romans 10:9 and it did not say “Admit, Believe, Confess”)

You can contact Cory at cory@youthframeworks.com.

The Amazon Project, a ministry of Youth Frameworks and Cedar Creek MBC of Palestine, TX, completed another portion of God’s work in the Amazon jungles of Peru. This is the seventh time a group has gone to work in the last two years.

While there were many things accomplished and we are excited about the future, the highlight of the work was going to Villa Esther, the uppermost village of the main tributary river that you can only reach when the water level is sufficient, and being immediately met by the school teacher who invited us into the school to talk to the children. After a full Gospel presentation, the children said they had never heard it before! We returned a few days later and conducted a Bible school where the majority of the village attended. The sad fact is that there are literally hundreds of villages like Villa Esther in Peru.

God has made our purpose for the Amazon very clear. By leading us to people and churches who are of like faith and order (it’s almost scary how much like us they really are) and by leading them to not ask us for physical things, but spiritual, our role is to supply them with education and teaching materials they cannot get on their own.

These people are already showing themselves to be very evangelistic by starting regular Bible study groups in villages where there are no churches. They also are going to the next river and sharing the Gospel and seeing souls saved. They want more training and education so they can do even better at the work God has for them.

Another highlight is the addition of our first boat. One of the believers in the jungle told us in November that he would like to see us have our own boat. He offered to supply the labor and lumber if we would purchase the other necessary supplies. After a very generous donation from some of our team members, we commissioned the building of the boat.

It was completed by mainly three people and only using three tools. From standing tree to floating boat, they only used a chain saw (cutting trees and milling the lumber), hammer (assembling the boat) and a machete (for making the necessary small cuts in the wood). This boat is 40 feet long and 8 feet wide! It will comfortably carry 20 people. It has already been a tremendous help.

In total, we conducted 9 Bible schools and 5 ladies Bible studies. We were also able to have more in-depth conversations with many people, including the pastors, and continue to build our relationships. We were also given the paperwork and talked to the community leaders at Cabo Pantoja about acquiring land and building some facilities to help us teach seminary. We also purchased a chainsaw (Stihl 660 with a 36” bar) for the churches to begin cutting lumber for us to use for construction.

Our next step in the work will take place in late October when we will teach our first session of seminary. Plans are currently being made for what material will be taught and the overall scope of our seminary training there. Please pray as we make those decisions.

Our biggest need at this time is a larger motor for the boat. The “pecky pecky” motor we have been able to purchase at this point goes at a top speed of about 8 MPH. This caused us to spend, at times, as much as 7 hours on the boat in a day in addition to conducting two Bible schools! A 40 horsepower motor will cost us about $5,000, but would be a HUGE benefit to us. It would cut travel time by at least two-thirds and allow us more time to work in the villages.

We will soon begin raising funds and assembling a building team to hopefully go in late May/early June, 2012. In the meantime, we ask that you continue to pray that God lead us and guide the people in the jungle as we seek to do His work together.

In the Ministry Mall you will find

One Truth Curriculum

The One Truth Curriculum Series is not your typical topical study. In each totally downloadable six-week series, students are challenged with in-depth Bible teaching that will change their lives.

Teachers are given an easy-to-follow teacher’s guide, custom PowerPoints, custom student handouts, and video. With these tools and Bible-based material, there will be no stopping your youth group from experiencing the God of the Bible!

Custom Ministry Designs

Sure, pre-made stuff is great and it’s a quick way to make sure your church looks good. But what if you really want to stand out from the crowd? You’ve come to the right spot! Check out this store  to see samples of work we’ve done in the past and to let us get started on your very own custom design!

Sermon Resources

You get one chance to preach your sermon each Sunday. Make sure your screen looks its best with MinistryMall’s downloadable sermon backgrounds

The centerpiece of Ministry Mall at this point is the One Truth Curriculum Series. This is a completely original series that was written, edited and laid out completely by Youth Frameworks staff members and volunteers. The official launch date of the series is April 8, 2011, but feel free to download samples and explore the other offerings in the Mall.

Let us hear from you with your feedback about the Mall. Yes, we even want to hear negative things if they are there. Our goal is that MinistryMall.org will become your one-stop-shop for all of your church’s ministries.

Since writing the report, we have learned that we saw 495 patients and did 82 dental extractions and fillings. Our boat traveled 150 miles round trip! God is great!

The Amazon Project- Medical Trip 2011

1. The Decision to Go – This may seem too easy, but this is often the hardest part of the process. I wanted to go on mission trips for 10 years and could never make myself step out in faith and say, “I’m going.” So many people wait for a sign from God. I came to this conclusion: If I were moving to the mission field, I would need a crystal clear sign. If I’m going on a short term trip, God would rather me go on a mission trip than go to Cozumel for a vacation. Decide to go.

2. Contacting Youth Frameworks – Too easy. We are always available at youthframeworks.com, teams@youthframeworks.com, Youth Frameworks on Facebook, Youth Frameworks on YouTube, Youth Frameworks on Twitter (@txuthguy).

3. Apply – After you complete the application process and submit your deposit, you will be contacted in a timely fashion.

4. Raising Funds – This is usually when the faith ends. This is what stopped me for years. I finally placed it in God’s hands. I sent out 25 letters to area churches and friends. It only took 3 letters to have all the funds. My only advice for this is, “GET OVER IT!” God will supply.

There are a few things you should know about our trips in June.

1. We will be taking 1 team June 2- June 12.

2. There are only 20 spots availible and applications have already started coming in.

3. There is a pecking order to determine who will be included on the teams:

• People who speak Spanish
• People with a special skill (teaching, music, etc.)
• People from past teams
• First come, first served

Get your application and deposit in now and increase the chances of securing a place on one of the teams.

So, you want to go the Amazon jungle in June? Well, let’s go!

Cory