Tyler Goes To Church

Fall Practicum Week 7

Week 7 (10/21/08)

Record of Ministry Activities

Plan and Coordinate Youth Events on Tuesday (1 ½ Hours)

Typical Youth Group (2 ½ Hours)

Total Ministry Hours: 4 Hours

Personal Reflection on Ministry

Youth group last night was once again sort of disappointing. Our main worship leader decided not to show up and as a result, the entire night seemed like a waste of our time. Whenever there seems to be a “glitch” in the system, the entire night falls to pieces for no reason. It is such a shame. Our worship leader doesn't show up, and all of a sudden, we can't do the normal teaching service either? That just doesn't make sense. I think ministries, especially youth groups, need to learn to be flexible during situations that aren't ideal. This situation was not ideal, but we certainly did not make the most of it. We let the negative take the night and turn it into a negative. We are in the middle of a series on other religions. And we took the “religion” of scientology tonight. It was certainly an interesting conversation that we had, but it was not very progressive. The conversation, what little there actually was, seemed forced and not legitimate. It was pretty much the new youth pastor reading facts about scientology and hoping that some of our students would at least ask a question. The problem was that when a student asked a question, the youth pastor didn't know and he just told them to look it up online. This doesn't seem fair to me. As pastors, we need to be knowledgeable about the topic we are discussing that night. If we aren't knowledgeable, then how do we expect the students to care or trust that we know what we are talking about. It only takes one “missed” question in order for a student to lose interest in the topic that we are discussing. I want to be able to answer as many questions as possible. And if I can't answer a question, I want to at least be able to say, “I'll look it up and let you know”. I never want to say, “I don't know and I'm not willing to look it up for you”.


Spiritual Reflection

On a spiritual level, I had to question the significance of last night. It was kind of disappointing on a spiritual level. When you lack a crucial worship element like music, there just seems to be a huge gap missing. There was a huge gap missing last night, and I'm almost certain that it had to do with the fact that we didn't have a musical worship element. And because the typical schedule was thrown off, we didn't seem organized and it was difficult for students to actually buckle down and get into a rhythm of worship. I personally felt this lack as well. It was unfortunate to be so stressed and worried about the lack of music that I could never focus solely on God and just be present. It made me wonder about the future and the stress that I would encounter and how I would deal with that. I mean, I can almost guarantee that I will be involved in some level of stress while in ministry. So the question becomes, “how do I deal with that stress and still be effective spiritual both in teaching and personally”? It was heartbreaking to have to be stressed over a service and not dedicate my energy to worshiping God. I really need to find that balance between taking leadership and ownership and actually participating in worship. I don't expect this to be solved overnight.

posted by Tyler Murphy @ 1:51 PM 1 comments

Fall Break (No Practicum)

This week was Fall Break and thus I was not able to attend youth group.

posted by Tyler Murphy @ 11:49 PM 0 comments

Fall Practicum Week 6

Week 6 (10/12/08)

Record of Ministry Activities

Plan and Coordinate Youth Events on Tuesday (1 ½ Hours)

Worship Night Including Singing (2 ½ Hours)

Total Ministry Hours: 4 Hours

Personal Reflection on Ministry

Tonight was special in for a couple of reasons. The first reason is the fact that for my job with admissions, I had a visiting guest staying with me overnight. So, I took him along with me to youth group so that he could experience what a youth group was like here in Marion. I'm pretty sure he really enjoyed it. He told me that it was a lot different than his youth group at home, but it definitely had some awesome features to it. So that was encouraging to hear an outside opinion as to the happenings and appearance of our youth group. As far as the actual service tonight, it was a special worship only service. The thing I liked about tonight was the fact that I was able to have a more hands-on role in the youth group. Sometimes, I sing in the worship band, and this youth group night happened to be one of those nights. I was able to get to know the worship band a little more as we planned out what we would like to do as far as music goes in the worship service. I realized that relationships are built by doing things together, not just by talking about becoming closer. I felt really close to the people in the worship band because I was able to work with them closely and hand to hand. When you are able to discuss some theological issues in a worship song to a high schooler, that creates an important relationship that can't be built any other way. So, my eyes were opened to the importance of working together with the students in order to grow closer with them and build relationships.


Spiritual Reflection

I was wondering about the theological issues pertaining to having just a purely musical service. I know that in theology class, we discuss the importance of having three things be apart of the church service: the preaching of God's Word, the community meets, and the sacraments are administered. So, when we have a service that is purely music in nature, what does that do to our theological assumptions about what a church service should be? Does the fact that many of our worship songs contain pieces of God's Word mean that the preaching of God's Word is covered? If that is true, what about the sacraments? Does worship count as a sacrament? I don't think so, personally. But it certainly is a means of grace. These were just some of the theological questions that I had while performing a service that was just purely worship. I would be interested to hear the opinions of some of the theology professors on campus. I know many of the churches around here have held services like this. While attending a service like this, I personally have found myself become bored and worn out with just singing. I'm not sure if any of the students felt this way tonight. But I know I have felt that before.

posted by Tyler Murphy @ 10:48 PM 1 comments

Fall Practicum Week 5

Week 5 (10/5/08)

Record of Ministry Activities

Plan and Coordinate Youth Events on Tuesday (1 ½ Hours)

Traditional Youth Group (2 ½ Hours)

Total Ministry Hours: 4 Hours

Personal Reflection on Ministry

I actually left youth group tonight feeling depressed. See, we had a change in youth leaders this semester, and so far, it hadn't been bad. Until tonight, however. This was the first night of youth group that I left feeling bad for the students that attended. Nothing was organized, nothing was planned. And it was clear that both of those things were true. It was truly sad. I had to make the powerpoint slides as soon as I got there, because they had not been made earlier. I had to make sure all the music was set up for the worship band. I even had to sing for a couple of songs because the “lead singer” was not present. So, I ended up doing so much and feeling burnt out almost as soon as I got there. That is not a pleasant feeling. The message from the youth pastor was disheartened and the worship seemed forced. It was a disappointing night for the youth group. There aren't a whole lot of nights that are like this, but they do happen. It makes me wonder how to avoid situations like this in the future. In my future ministry, being unprepared is something that I want to avoid as much as possible. Whether it is a sermon or a worship set, I want to be able to have things planned out and ready to go. Because not only does the ministry suffer an image crisis, but the people attending the ministry suffer spiritually. Which brings me to my next point...

Spiritual Reflection

I noticed that at youth group, when there was no clear direction in the service, my mind just wandered. It made me think back as to how I process messages and sermons. In homiletics, we discussed the fact that it is an important thing to have a process or thought train throughout the entire service. One thing leads to the next and to the next until it all makes sense. Well, at youth group, there was no real process and no real connection. This made it really difficult to process and connect with what was happening both in worship and teaching. So instead of having a solid spiritual connection with God and the youth group, I felt let down. I felt let down by the worship team, the youth pastor, and myself. It was so frustrating spiritually that I was forced to look at the importance of planning again. Who would have thought that a well organized service could so positively affect the spiritual gains and losses of the congregation. It was something that struck me hard tonight, and something that I will definitely remember for a long time. Especially once I am in a ministry somewhere.

posted by Tyler Murphy @ 10:14 PM 1 comments