When planning out a disciple now weekend one of the most important and sometimes stressful decisions you have to make is what Disciple Now curriculum to use. There are certainly a lot of choices out there, and of course you want to choose something that will allow students to get the full impact out of the weekend possible. Here are a few things that may help guide you in your process of choosing a Disciple Now Curriculum. 1. Keep your students in mind: Often times when choosing Disciple Now Curriculum we look for the hottest trend or what we enjoy. But remember, this is not for us it is for our students. So look for something that covers things that are relevant to your students, and things that are pressing to them. 2. Think about your whole group: Many times when planning things for your student ministries, or picking out resources for our student ministry, we think about one niche of students. When picking out Disciple Now Curriculum we need to be careful to ensure we pick out something that can reach the broad scope of students who may be in our ministry. Next you need to sell your event to your leaders. You need to cast a vision
for what your expectations are for them and for what your goals are for the event. It cannot be guaranteed everything will happen as you hoped but you increase your chances of this happening if you take the time to sell your leaders on what you hope to see happen throughout the weekend. Finally you need to sell the event to your church. D Now is a big undertaking and you need a lot of help to pull it off. Therefore you need to get your whole church involved. There is an added benefit here though. Most student ministries are isolated from the rest of the church. While this is usually acceptable for everyone it poses a problem. Your students are isolated from people who can be great role models for them. This event gives you a chance to break that trend and build a bridge between the adults in your church and the students in your ministry. Being a salesman may be unnatural for many of us, and that actually may be a good thing. But there are times where playing this role is necessary and this event is one of those times. If you want your weekend to be all you hoped it would be and all that God intends for it to be than get out there and sell the weekend to everyone who needs to have it sold to. Those few moments of our time will reap incredible benefits in the long run. As you prepare for your D Now weekend you have many roles to play. You have a lot of administrative tasks to tend to. Many of you may have to write curriculum. And of course in the midst of everything else you have to do you are still first and foremost a minister. But there is another role that you must play if you want your event to be successful and in a way this may be the most important role of all. If you want your event to be the best it can be you must, to an extent, be a salesman. This may not be a role you have considered before but in this article I want to share with you in what ways you need to be the best salesman you can be.
First of all you need to sell your event to your students. D Now is a wonderful event and can be a life changing moment for the students in your ministry. But if none of them show up what is the point? Yes in an ideal world students would just come but we know this is not the case. There is a lot competing for our students' time and attention. We also need to take time and caution to not make our students think ministry is all about events. But a little selling is important, especially for an event like this one. When it comes to the task of choosing disciple now curriculum many of us get tunnel vision. There is nothing else that enters our minds in those days and we accomplish nothing else. While at times there are tasks where this is necessary what is sad is when this type of practice creeps into other areas of our lives. The basic point here is that we are supposed to love God with all that we are but are we really? I like to think about loving God with our minds, bodies and souls. Many of us might do two or three of these and ignore the others. Most us would say we are good about learning and growing spiritually but we do not take care of ourselves physically. Others of us get too wrapped up in the physical. We are called to have the total package. Take some time to evaluate yourself and make sure you are doing just that.
When preparing others to teach the disciple now curriculum you have chosen or really doing anything in ministry, we usually like to challenge others. We like to push them, cast our vision, and make sure they are doing what is necessary to reach the goal that we have set. But are you taking those challenges yourself? Are you doing what you are asking them to or are you just merely spouting off words and then sitting back and doing nothing? You need to make sure that if you are going to challenge someone to do something then you must be willing to do it yourself. If you challenge a leader to study you must study the same thing also. If you challenge someone to study read a passage of scripture you must do it also. This is real and effective leadership and is something we all must do if our ministries are going to grow and be successful.
With any event there are costs. This is also true with disciple now as you have to order disciple now curriculum, pay leaders, and sometimes pay for snacks and meals. Because of the desire to be a good steward of what you have been given you want to always ask yourself if it is all worth it. I can tell you with this event and all that goes with it the investment is fully worth it. Students will experience life change, growth, and will experience the Christian life in ways you never dreamed were possible. Your adults will become more involved and find great connection with your students and your ministry. There is just something unique about it and the way it is set up. So ask you ask whether or not the investment is worth it I hope you will answer with a resounding yes. It will be one of the better choices you make in ministry.
I really believe Disciple Now works, because for those few days we are living in community. we are building relationships with each other. We are doing life together. I hope you will evaluate the effectiveness of those relationships in your disciple now, and contemplate how to continue those relationships after the event is over. Maybe even schedule a break from the disciple now curriculum and disciple now resources so that, your students can digest the importance of the relationships they are forming. T
As I have continued to read in the old testament, I am noticing more and more how detailed and organized God is. So if we are going to honor God, and be like Him, shouldn't we be organized too? I know this is not easy for many of us, especially me. But I believe it should be a part of our character we work on as we draw closer to God. What better time to start than an event like Disciple Now. Make sure you have all the details hammered out in a timely manner. Make sure the Disciple now curriculum is in order ahead of time. Have a plan and a purpose for your training meetings. I believe God will honor your efforts.
I have been reading through exodus lately. Different I know. I have been noticing how Moses prayed differently than we tend too. He prayed with power and confidence. I was also blown away by how it says that God changed His mind. I am not hear to start a theological discussion on whether or not we can change God's mind, but shouldn't we pray like we can. Why not start with Disciple now. Pray that God would do amazing things. Pray God would speak to your students through your leaders and your Disciple Now curriculum in such a way that they would experience life change. Pray with power.
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