Impulsive Joy

Originally uploaded to Flickr by NazarethCollege

(You can read the first articles in this series  here,  here,  here and here.)

I love mash ups.  Two great things that are uniquely combined to make something even more fabulous than the two originals alone.  The music community does this brilliantly.

Do you mash up your ministry?

Are you in pursuit of ideas and practices that are “winning”? (No, we are not talking about Mr. Sheen here….gesh!) Do you look for things successful practices that you can mash up for your ministry?

Our Karate Studio is a great example of a successful practice you should mash up in your ministry.  In addition to being a great place for kids to learn martial arts, they are well known by college recruiters for student leadership development.

Best Practices

One of their best practices comes in the form of a verbal requirement beginning at all intermediate ranked belts.  Students can select any martial arts related topic and they start out at a 1-minute presentation.  The length of the presentation increases by 1 minute until they become a black belt candidate.  When they are a black belt candidate, students must prepare a 10-minute verbal as a part of their belt requirements.

Mash it up

What would this look like in your ministry?  Can you imagine using this principle in the context of a  jr. leadership class?  Ask students to select any topic of the Bible for a presentation in front of their jr. leader peers.  What would that do to help students articulate their faith? What if you followed a similar progression in length so that students were presenting a 10 minute verbal before graduating from High School…?

Intuitively, I knew the importance of overcoming the fear of speaking in front of a group when I led our jr. Praise Team students.  I would seek out opportunities for students to get on the mic for a welcome, dismissal, prayer, to lead a song….  I would try to set the right environment for them to develop their communication and leadership skills while “on the job”.

But I think the “mash up” would take things to a whole ‘nuther level…!

Think Non-Linear

I’ve had several leaders ask for development programs that will give them a pre-set plan on how to develop students.  The problem with their request is that we have been trained by our Industrial Age schooling to think that if we start at point “A” and follow the prescribed steps, we will result with a predictable outcome.

Learning is much more organic. It is not a mechanical process.

I was reminded of this by a recent TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson. Robinson encourages educators to take on a model that more so reflects an Agricultural mindset — in which we create the conditions for students to flourish.  As such, while there are many tools available to help guide our conversations, perhaps the best thing we can do is try to personalize the experience.

What, in your opinion, are the right conditions we need to encourage students to flourish as leaders?