Tyler Goes To Church

Fall Practicum Week 1

Week 1 (9/7/08)

Record of Ministry Activities

*Included in my ministry activities are events on Tuesday afternoons from 11:00-12:00. During this time, all the youth sponsors meet together in order to plan our activities for the weekend and the coming weekends.

- Planning and Coordinating Activities (1 Hour): On Tuesday, we sat down for the first time as youth sponsors since last year. It is a great time where we are sponsors are able to share how Christ is working in our lives and how we see him working in the student’s lives as well.

- Meet and Greet Students(1 ½ Hours): Since I hadn’t been to youth group for over 3 months, it was great to be able to see all of them again. Honestly, I find this to sometimes be the most important part of my time at youth group: time spent with the youth just chatting.

- Set-Up PowerPoint Slides (1 Hour)

- Supervise Students During Worship/Teaching (1 Hour)

- Drive Van and Drop Off 12 Students (1 ½ Hours)

Total Ministry Activities: 5 Hours

Personal Reflection on Your Ministry

Something that I noticed was difficult and interesting about coming back to youth for the first time since last year was how it has changed. The seniors that were there last year have now either left or are now sponsors with the youth group. It is a weird dynamic to now be working side-by-side with the students that I once was teaching. This is by interesting and difficult at the same time. I’m not really sure how I feel about working next to Devin and Lacie (2 students that at once were students, but are now sponsors). This is going to be a difficult thing to transition mentally from “youth” to “helper”. This will probably be a concern that I have often concerning youth that graduate or move on to other leadership things. Another thing I noticed was how tired I was. Without realizing it, my fatigue greatly affected my ministry ability. Partially in the fact that I was just too tired to be as crazy and interactive as I sometime can be in my youth group. I hope that this was just a one time occurrence this weekend, and that it won’t happen again any time soon. Fatigue can greatly affect your ministry I am realizing.

Spiritual Reflection

My spiritual life is kind of low right now, and I think it is because of my tiredness. It is hard to find energy to talk to my friends, let alone God. So, that is definitely something I am struggling with right now. I hope, and pray that as I get more used to my sleeping schedule (or lack thereof) I will become more aware and awake at the ways God is working in my life and the lives of those around me. However, I found myself impressed at the spiritual lives of the students at my youth group. They really seemed more alive than I have ever seen them. This was really encouraging for me to see. The spiritual lives of my students is a great booster for me whenever I am feeling low.

posted by Tyler Murphy @ 4:46 PM